Wonderland
by sephie666
Summary: Aveline is a sixteen year old, social outcast. One day watching her sibings, she falls into a lake and into the world known as wonderland. There will be romance and violance, can she stand it all? Read and find out X
1. Chapter 1

"Come on Aveline !", my brothers yelled in unison. Jacob ran through the playground while Ryan jumped on one of the swings and swung back and forth with a wide grin. They were both younger than me, Jacob was five while Ryan was seven. I was sixteen.

"Hold on, I'm just catching my breath", I yelled to them, collapsing on a park bench. I had been running after them for a half an hour. Our parents had to go to a meeting for my dad's work, and now I was stuck watching two balls of energy. Not that I had a lot to do, I didn't have many friends to hang out with, but it was really hard keeping two small boys busy.

"Okay, I'm coming after you Jake", I yelled as I sprinted after him. Ryan followed close behind us.

"Can I help you catch him", Ryan asked, speeding up next to me, trying to keep up. Jake was starting to go into the woods.

"Sure, but we have to get him fast, those woods are off limits", I told him. He nodded and he shot in front of me. And he went the opposite way!

"Ha-ha, now you have to catch both of us", Ryan teased me, sprinting to the woods, Jacob had already ran into them.

I ran as hard as I could, but they both quickly ran out of my sight. "Oh shit!", I thought. What am I going to do now? I went in circles for a while, until I came to an opening. More like stumbled on it really, I went through a couple of thorn bushes and nearly fell in it.

"Huh, didn't know this was back here", I muttered. It was nice, a small pond, unfortunately it was surrounded by bushes and tree's making it hard to see in the dense forest.

I looked around, hoping the boys hadn't jumped in the water, then I looked at the surface. There were no ripples, just my reflection. A average-size, hazel eyed girl looked back at me, with dark brown hair that was cropped in a pixie-cut, spiky in the back, with long bangs in the front. She was skinny and had pale skin that seemed to glow, looks that have been complimented as beautiful and well sculpted. Still, I didn't have many friends, which was okay, I was used to being alone. People thought of me as strange, and since I wore more boy clothes than most girls, I was also called a tom-boy. 'Oh well, who needs friends', I thought to myself, pulling myself out of my trance of self-pity.

I still had to find the boys, and since they weren't here I had to start looking somewhere else. Looking back once more at the lake's smooth surface, I was surprised to find that it's image had changed. Instead of my reflection there was now a map of a weird world. A castle, mansion, tower, and what looked like an amusement park were on. It I leaned I to get a closer look, when I felt two sets of hands push me into the water. As I fell I looked behind me. I was Jacob and Ryan.

'Ooh, when I get out I'm going to kill them', I thought as I hit the water. But I didn't get out, I kept falling through the water. Very fast! My ears popped at the sudden drop in elevation, making me a little dizzy and it didn't help that it was getting darker as I sunk further. Before I knew it, I had lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ughh", I groaned waking up. I sat up and looked around, I seemed to be in another clearing somewhere. What time was it, how long was I out? I looked up, the sun was just overhead which made it somewhere around noon. I had only been out for a half an hour.

Shakily, I stood up, and feeling something frilly touching my thighs.

My black skinny-jeans, vans, and black t-shirt had been turned into a frilly dress, long stockings and slippers, and the color of it all was PINK. I could feel myself reeling from the clothing on me, and then I noticed there was something on my shoulders. Instantly my hand came up, only to touch hair. Long hair that was almost down to my waist. How the hell did my hair grow so quickly? And where was I?

I searched for some sign of my location and saw that there was a trail to my left. I started walking on it, I had to find someone and figure out where I was. Walking on the cut out path, I took in this world. Where as my home was dull and colorless, the colors here seemed to jump out at you.

Suddenly, I heard rustling behind me, and jumped back. And a guy pushed his way out of a couple of bushes.

A really strange guy. He was dressed in what looked like a soldier's outfit that was decorated with hearts. His hair was a warm brown, and his eyes were a startling red. And in his hand was a long sword, which was now pointed at me.

I felt him take me in, my face turned a little red, I wasn't used to wearing this kind of clothing.

"Oh, hello", he greeted me cheerfully with a wide grin. He still kept the sword pointed at me though.

"Um, hello", I said nervously, looking pointedly at the weapon. He looked at it and quickly slid it back into it's sheath. I let out a deep breath, relieved.

"Sorry about that", he said sheepishly, "So what is someone like you doing out here ?", he asked. I stood dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say.

"I kinda just appeared here", I admitted, "Do you know where we are?"

He looked at me oddly like he was trying to figure out if I was serious.

"We're in Wonderland", he replied simply, "Duh, don't you live here?". My eyes widened and I shook my head. His face suddenly looked excited.

"Then you must be an outsider!", he told me with enthusiasm, scarlet eyes glinting.

"Yeah I guess so", I shrugged. His expression turned to thoughtful.

"Hmm, I'd better get you to Julius", he said walking away from me, "Come on, I was going there anyway".

He was going at a fast pace, and I hurried to keep up. "Who's Julius ?", I asked, when I got to his side.

"Julius is the clockmaker. He's usually the one that deals with new outsiders, and should be able to explain to you what happened", he told me. Then it just occurred to me. I had no clue what this man's name was .

"What's your name ?", I asked him, craning my head slightly to see his face. He was definitely tall, even for me.

He replied,"Ace, what's yours?"

"Aveline, but you could call me Ave", he looked down at me.

"Well it's nice to meet you", he said, holding a hand out with a wide grin. I shook it, returning his smile.

We walked through what seemed like an endless forest, until we finally came to a massive gate. It was excessively decorated, and looked very expensive.

"Is this where Julius is?", I asked Ace, looking at him.

"No, this is Hatter Mansion. . .", he shook his head, "But I think there's a short cut behind here to the Tower", he smiled. I was beginning to think that he was overly happy, he had been grinning the entire trip here.

He started walking to the gate, and as he did, I remembered seeing the map on the surface of the water before I fell in. The Tower, if I remember correctly, was in the middle of the other three buildings. I reached out and pulled on Ace's arm.

"I don't think this is the right way Ace", I told him worriedly.

"I'm sure it is, I take this short-cut a lot", he reassured me, again with a smile. I shook my head, I had a feeling he was wrong. He pushed the gate open a little and started to slid through.

"Come on Ave, we have to get there by dark, unless you want to spend a night with me", he looked back and winked. I felt another blush come over my face. Faced with that decision, I started walking through and froze when I heard a gunshot. Suddenly I felt a bullet graze my cheek.

At a rapid speed, Ace pushed us back through the gate and put me behind him.

"What do you two think you're doing on Hatter property", a figure asked, walking up to us. As it got closer, I saw it was a tall man with blonde hair, and brown rabbit ears? He was holding a gun up to us, but as he closed the distance between us, he put it down. And face-palmed himself.

"Oh not you again!", he exclaimed, pointing at Ace.

"Careful Elliot, you could've hit the outsider", Ace said, still cheerful. I turned to him and looked at him like he was out of his mind. My cheek was starting to bleed and I winched at the twinge of pain.

"What outsider?", Elliot, the rabbit eared guy, asked. Ace pulled me around and showed me to him. The rabbit guy looked me over like Ace had done, lingering in places, only this time I didn't go red. Now I was only irritated. What was with the men around here, you would think they had never seen a girl before.

Elliot put a finger to his lips,"Hmm still, I have orders to kill trespassers", he said thoughtfully.

"But we were just trying to get to the short-cut on the other side of the mansion, so we could get to the Tower", Ace tried to explain to him. Elliot rolled his eyes.

"Good grief, I should kill you just to put you out of your misery, you dip-stick", he said, pointing the gun back at Ace, "There is no short-cut, the only thing behind there is more territory, the Tower is that way".

He pointed the way we had just came from.

"See Ace, I told you we were going the wrong way", I told the grinning fool. I should have just gone that way, even if he didn't follow me.

"Huh, I guess you were right", Ace said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. That only mad Elliot madder.

"I've already told you a thousand times that there wasn't a short-cut", he said , "Now get out of here", he said shooting at Ace's feet. I let out a squeak.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot with Ave right next to me", Ace said calmly, the cheerful smile still on his face. He straightened up and stepped in front of me.

"And I'd appreciate it if you weren't breathing, now I said get out of here", Elliot repeated, looking a bit angrier.

"Could you show us where, just in case we get lost again", Ace asked politely. That made Elliot snap.

"That's it", he started shooting at Ace, who pushed me toward a tree.

"Quick get behind it and let me take care of the bunny", he said smirking, like he was enjoying this. I was scared out of my wits.

Ace went back and pulled out his sword, dodging several bullets. He took a swipe at Elliot, who dunked and tried getting a shot at Ace's head.

"Stop it both of you", I yelled at them uselessly. Another bullet came my way and I dunked behind my tree, afraid of getting hit. Two hands gently appeared on my shoulders. I jumped with a small yelp.

"It's alright", a smooth voice from behind murmured. The hands pulled me away from the tree.

"Excuse me, why are you two fighting on my grounds?", the voice behind me asked them, filled with authority. Even if I could turn around, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

The two men stopped fighting and looked at us. Ace was the first to speak.

"Sorry Blood", Ace said, stepping away from Elliot, who looked furious.

"But boss, he's been here twice in one day", Elliot said exasperatedly.

"That may be, but I believe you put this young lady in danger", he said bringing me back to the two's attention.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you Ave", Ace said, looking at me like he just remembered me.

"That's a surprise, an airhead like you forgets a lot", Elliot grumbled.

"So you're name's Ave ?" , the voice asked curiously. I turned around.


	3. Chapter 3

The person behind me was beautifully bizarre. He was dressed in a suave suit, which suited his smooth voice perfectly. He had a handsome face with turquoise eyes, that were surrounded by spiky black hair. On top of his head was a top hat that had feathers, a card that read 10/0, and live roses attached to it. His eyes were the most distinguishing feature however, and they were looking at me with interest.

"Uh, yes, my name's actually Aveline, but you could call me Ave", I said nervously. He smiled, his eyes crinkling.

"Well Ave, my name's Blood, Blood Dupre, and if you don't mind me asking what are you doing here, besides capturing my eyes", he asked. I blushed very hard at the compliment.

"I-I was going to the Tower with Ace, and I guess we got lost", I explained. I smiled a little, and a sharp sting went across my cheek. My hand went up to it reflexively.

"Uh-oh, looks like you have a cut, let me fix that", he said pulling out a handkerchief, which he put up to my cheek. My heart was pounding in my chest.

"Hey Ave", Ace said, pulling me from my thoughts, "We should get going if we want to get to the Tower by dark", Ace reminded me with a sly smile. I looked back at Blood.

"He's right, we should be going", I told him and Elliot, "Would you mind giving us directions?", I asked them tentatively. Blood smirked.

"Even better, I could give you an escort", Blood offered, "That is if Elliot doesn't mind taking you", Blood glanced at Elliot, who was still a little ticked at stopping the fight. The long eared man looked at Ace and I.

"I don't mind taking Ave, as long as this one doesn't wander off", he jerked his thumb at Ace. Ace pretended to look offended.

"I'm not that bad, you'd swear I got lost every day", he said, holding up his hands. Blood chuckled, while Elliot shook his head, deciding not to comment.

"Alright you had better get going", Blood said waving us off. Elliot started on the path we had come from, Ace and I began following him.

"I'll see you again Ave", Blood called to me. I turned back to look at the gate, but he had already disappeared.

Elliot came by my side during the trip, with a slightly guilty expression.

"I'm sorry about shooting at you, he's just been coming to the mansion once every day, lost, asking for directions, and I sort of got sick of it today", Elliot apologized, trying to explain.

"It's alright", I forgave him, "But that doesn't mean you should shoot him". Elliot nodded, though from how easily he shot at Ace before, he probably wasn't going to listen to me. That's when I made a sudden discovery.

"Speaking of Ace, where did he go ?", I asked, looking around. The brunette had disappeared somewhere. Elliot almost instantly shot over to a bush and pulled Ace out of it.

"Oh no you don't", he grumbled dragging Ace behind him. I giggled at the sight.

"Help Ave", Ace cried to me helplessly.

"Sorry Ace, but we can't let you get lost again", I told him apologetically. He pouted and let Elliot drag him.

"You're so mean", Ace complained to me. I shrugged it off.

We finally got to the Tower and Elliot said goodbye and started on his journey back to the mansion.

Ace burst through the door on arriving, "Honey I'm home".

"What are you yelling about ?", a weary voice asked coming down the stairs. I stared at the handsome man in front of us. He was dressed in a dark blue suit which was trimmed with gold. For a tie, he had a clock, along with a earring with one on it. What struck me the most was the midnight blue hair, which ran down his back in a pony-tail and almost touched the bottom of his back. His face, though he looked young, had a worn expression on it, with cobalt blue eyes that looked starved of sleep.

"This here is Ave and I guess she's an outsider", Ace said, putting his arm around me. Julius looked at me in scrutiny. I blushed slightly when he met my eyes. What was with all the good looking men hanging around here?

"An outsider?", he asked Ace.

"I think so, she said she didn't live here", Ace shrugged and looked at me, to which I nodded.

"I don't live here, I don't even know how I got here", I clarified. Julius sat down at the table in the room. The room itself was covered in papers of diagrams tacked to the wall, and various boxes of mechanical looking things.

"Are you sure someone didn't take you here?", asked Julius, looking at me sternly, a little more life in him.

"No, I'm sure no one took me here", I shook my head. I told him my story about falling into the lake, Ace sat back in one of the chairs around the table and listened.

"Hmm, it sounds like you fell through a looking glass into our world", Julius concluded when I had finished. Looking glasses? I remembered reading something about them.

"You mean like reflective surfaces", I asked.

Julius looked at me surprised,"Yes, lakes, puddles, any body of water that has a reflection. It's connection between worlds, it has no reason behind it and is very rare", he explained. I nodded, absorbing the information. I realized something.

"So is there a way back to my own world?", I asked urgently.

"Yes, I suppose there is, but you can also stay here and play the game, that is if you didn't already drink from the vial", Julius told me.

"What vial?", I asked confused.

"Any outsider that comes here gets a vial that lets them play the game", after he didn't get a reaction from me, he sighed, "Did you check you pockets?"

I shook my head and stuck my hand into the pockets on my ridiculous dress. I pulled out a vial with a heart-shaped stopper at the top. It had red liquid swirling in it. Now the question was if I wanted to stay here and play this 'game'. Did I?

"What is this game?", I asked. Julius looked very serious.

"I can't tell you exactly what it is, but once you empty the vial, every time you interact with the inhabitants of Wonderland, a little of the liquid comes back into the vial. Once it is filled, you have the choice of staying here or going home", Julius summarized it. I looked suspiciously at the vial.

"Is the game dangerous ?", I asked finally after some thought.

"Yes it can be dangerous", he answered, but he wouldn't elaborate.

I looked back at the vial. Did I want to go back to my boring world where no one really liked me, besides my family? Or did I want to stay here and play the game? I thought of the people I already meet. They seemed nice, at least nicer than the people at home. And anyways wouldn't it be fun trying to adapt to this strange world. My mind thought of all of this.

I sighed and took the stopper off the vial, while Ace and Julius watched me.

I drank the entire vial in two gulps. Afterward I felt a warmth surge through me that spread to my toes.

"Now you can't leave until the game is over", Julius announced, sounding very tired. I was still thinking about my decision.

"Is there anything else I should know about Wonderland ?", I asked the two. Ace looked at Julius, who waved to him..

"Ask Ace, I have some work to do", Julius said, getting up and going back up the stairs. Ace sighed and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, lets get this started", he said. He explained to me about the three territories, the people who ruled them (Still don't know how an Amusement Park came into a war), and about Wonderland's weird time. "It changes irregularly", he said. I nodded.

"And that's about it, Welcome to Wonderland", he said opening his arms wide.

"What an odd place", I murmured, the entire explanation was just strange. I fought the urge, but I yawned. I looked out a window and saw that it was night-time.

"Hey Ace, is there a bedroom here I could use ?"l asked him. He looked a bit uncertain.

"I'm not sure, I live at the castle, I just come here to help Julius out, but I'm sure he has a free room for you", he said, "But don't you want to live at the castle with me, you could meet the Queen", he offered me, smiling.

"I'm not sure, if this is the only neutral territory, then maybe I should stay here", I said, his face dropping, "But I promise I'll visit", I said quickly.

He gave me a smirk, "Okay, maybe you could stay with me for a night".

I blushed, "Wow that's not perverted at all", I said sarcastically, getting up.

"I'll see you tomorrow", I told him, walking up the stairs. The staircase seemed endless, and it wasn't until I reached the top that I found Julius. He was working on some clocks and looked up when I came in.

"Did Ace inform you of every thing ?", he asked.

"Yes, and I was wondering, since this is the only neutral territory, would you mind if I stayed here with you ?", I asked him. He looked annoyed at this, but sighed, "Yes, I suppose you could, after all, what would people think of me if I threw a outsider out on the street?", he said getting up.

He showed me my room.

"If you need anything, my room is down a floor and to the right", he said, leaving.

I looked around. It was a nice room. I looked in the drawers, and I saw that they were filled with clothes for me. Normally I would wonder what would a Tower with a male inhabitant be doing with woman's clothing, but after dropping into another world, I ignored my internal questions. One drawer was filed with night gowns and I slipped one on and slid into the bed, which was comfortable.

Now I just had to fall asleep. Which I couldn't.

For the past five years I've had Ryan and Jacob sleeping with me in my own bed. They were always having nightmares, and since my mother was unfortunately dead, I was the only one left for them to go to. And now with the room missing the breathing of another person and the warm touch of another, I missed my little brothers. I felt lonely, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do about it.


	4. Chapter 4

Finally I had fallen asleep, but throughout the night I had nightmares. Strange ones, which had menacing shadows lurking around them, I had tried to run away from them in one particular dream, but they had caught me and I ended it by waking up drenched in sweat.

I had thought about going to Julius, but I had forgotten where his room was. So I stayed there, not falling asleep, but feeling completely exhausted.

At last I saw light coming through the tiny window in my room.

I got up and nearly fell back down I was so tired. But I pushed myself to get dressed. In the closet I found a couple dresses that were the same style as the one I had already worn, thankfully though, none were in pink. I pulled out a red and black one, it had thin sleeves that went down to my wrists, and a neckline that showed my collar-bones, but nothing more. The top of it was black, while the skirt was a blood red. The bottom of it went to my thighs and had fish netting that came out underneath the red fabric. Adding to the red and black scheme, I put on a pair of striped stockings and some black slippers, and topped it off with a red bow that had a black heart in the middle, putting it in my now long hair.

I went over to the vanity that was there and saw it had black eye-liner and mascara, along with enough make-up to make me look like a clown. I put on a little of that and went down stairs.

I found Julius at a table working on another clock.

"Good morning", I chirped. He looked up and his eyes widened a little. Then he shook his head a little and went back to working. I giggled at that. After wearing a complete pink, fairy princess outfit yesterday, I probably looked like a completely different person. I walked over to the counter in search of a special item.

"Is there any coffee ?", I asked him, the beverage was like a drug to me.

"Yes, in the second cabinet", he said, not looking up.

"Would you like a cup?", I asked, getting the beans out. He nodded, "Yes please".

"Two cups coming up", I said getting to work. After grinding beans, brewing the coffee and adding sugar to it, I handed him a cup. He took a sip and blinked.

"Wow, this is very good, it tastes a little different though", he said, taking another sip.

"I put cinnamon in it", I said taking a seat across from him with my own mug.

He went back to work and I watched him for a while. It was like magic, his fingers danced over the poor clock before him so fast, it looked like a blur, for a man he certainly had elegant hands. Finally he put one last piece in place, and he closed the back of it. I waited to hear the tick, but it never came.

"I don't hear it ticking", I said out loud. He looked up at me, I think he was surprised I was still there.

"Of course not, I'm not done working on it, it still needs to be wound", he said getting up, that's when I realized his mug was empty, while mine was still full and probably cold. I had been watching him the whole time, I came to realize with a blush. I got up and dumped my mug. And now what? I guess I could visit some other people.

"Do you think I could visit some places, like Hatter Mansion", I asked Julius. His head shot up, and stared at me like I was bonkers.

"Why would you want to go to Hatter Mansion?", he asked me alarmed.

"I was there yesterday, and I just want to visit. Why, is that bad ?", I asked him. He sighed, pushing his glasses up.

"The Hatter is a Mafia boss, and he can be dangerous. His servants, like Elliot, are just as violent, if not worse", Julius explained. I could believe it, especially the way Elliot reacted yesterday. However, I still wanted to go and see the two.

"I was just going there to see Blood and Elliot and talk, we really didn't get to introduce ourselves yesterday", I said, "But I promise to be careful", I added quickly. Julius nodded, "Fine, do as you wish", and gave me directions.

"Watch out for the Bloody Twins", he added, as I walked out the door.

I finally reached the gates of the Mansion after walking the same incredible distance as yesterday. Upon getting there, two boys immediately sprang out of the bushes around it.

"Halt, state your name", one of them told me. They were twins, one dressed in blue, the other in red. Their outfits were the same as Ace's, soldier uniform, only they were missing the hearts.

"Aveline, I was here yesterday, you two must be the Bloody Twins", I said confidently. They both had huge, gleaming axes with them.

"Oh, Elliot told us about an outsider named Ave", one of them said. The other one nodded.

"We are the Bloody Twins, my name is Dee", the one in the blue said.

"Mine is Dum", the one in the red said after him. Then they ran over and hugged me.

"Boss said that we should be nice to you, could you be our onee-san?", Dee asked. I was dumbfounded. Blood asked them to do this?

"Um, sure, I'm okay with that", I said patting their heads.

"Does onee-san want to play with us?", Dum asked me excitedly. Both of them did puppy-eyes on me. I couldn't resist.

"Sure, what do you want to do ?", I asked them smiling. Their eyes light up.

"We could introduce you to Boris-", Dee offered.

"Or we could show you our room", Dum interrupted. Dee looked at him annoyed.

"No brother, she would much rather meet Boris, we could show her our room later", Dee stated with a pout.

"Or we could show her our room first, and introduce her to Boris later", Dum argued. I felt a fight coming on.

"Dum, I think Dee had a point, after all won't we get a little tired playing with Boris", I had no clue who he was", After that you could show me your room, and we could rest", I said, trying to reinstate peace between them.

Dum nodded finally,"Alright we can see Boris first", he said. I had a small question.

"Who's Boris?", I asked them. They both grinned.

"He's a friend of ours", Dee explained, "He lives at the Amusement Park, but he plays with us once in a while".

"I thought the Park and the Mansion were fighting?", I asked confused. They nodded.

"They are, but we're just hired hands, we can do whatever we want when we're off duty", Dum said smiling widely.

"Let's get going", Dee said, and both of them started pulling me. But we were stopped.

"Oi, you two, where do think you're going", Elliot's voice asked, behind us. The twins swung around, me along them.

"We're taking our onee-san to the Park, what do you want you moronic hare?", they said in unison. Elliot looked at me.

"Hey Ave", Elliot greeted me, then he turned to the other two, "You two stroke causers are supposed to be guarding the gate, you have orders".

Now I felt bad, it seemed like I was getting the twins in trouble.

"It was my fault Elliot", I said as the twins opened their mouths to retaliate, " I was asking them to take me to the Park, I really don't know where I'm going", I told him with an embarrassed smile. Both of the twins smiled grateful smiles at me. Elliot was still trying to find a way to yell at the twins.

"That may be Ave, but their still supposed to be guarding the gate", he said. I had a feeling he was about to crack and let them go, so I flirted a little.

"Oh come on, just one afternoon, after all I just met them and I want to know them a little more, you can come too if you want", I invited him. The twins were sitting back, watching my performance. I really had no clue what I was doing. I gave Elliot a small smile. He caved.

"Alright, they can go with you, I can't because I have work to do though", he said, running his hand through his hair. He was blushing a little. I was shocked it had worked.

"Okay maybe next time, tell Blood I said hi, we'll be back a little later so I'll see you again", I called to him, as the Twins pulled me towards the forest.

"Seeya Ave", Elliot called after me, waving goodbye and retreating back to the mansion.


	5. Chapter 5

Dee and Dum pulled me the whole way to the Park and when we finally got there and they let go, my arms felt like deflated balloons you use to make animal shapes.

Both boys pulled out silver passes and showed them to the people at the gates. They nodded and I saw that they had no faces! I looked through the gates and saw the same thing. People were walking around with no faces except for their mouths.

"Um guys, why don't the people here have faces", I asked as we went through the gates. They looked at me like I was stupid.

"Because their people without duties", Dee stated simply.

"Yeah, their like servants", Dum added. They started pulling me towards the maintenance station. And out came the strangest person I had meet yet. He looked like a punk/cosplaying teenage guy. He was wearing a pink feather boa, a top that showed his stomach, shorts, and stripped sock. He had piercings everywhere and tattooed triangles on his cheeks and three above his belly-button. His hair was a pink/purple, but the strangest things were the cat ears and tail he had on. Elliots rabbit ears were fine, but these practically jumped out at you.

"Hey guys, who's this", he asked the twins, looking at me.

"This is our onee-san, Ave", they told him. I waved.

"Hi, you must be Boris", I greeted him. I shook his hand that he was holding out.

"So what's this about you being their onee-san?", he asked me.

"I'm an outsider and I guess Blood asked them to be nice to me, which they don't have to do if they don't want to", I said looking at the boys. They shook their heads.

"But we want to be nice to you, you stopped that stupid newbie hare from ratting us out", they said. Boris looked like he was about to laugh.

"What's so funny ?", I asked him.

"Nothing, I've just never seen these two be willing nice to someone, by the way you smell pretty good for being an outsider", he said taking a whiff. I blushed.

"Are you saying that outsiders usually stink ?", I asked teasing him. He shook his head.

"No, just I was expecting an outsider to smell different, since you're supposed to be from another world", he said with a shrug. His ears were laid back, I was trying to stop myself from touching them. They just looked so soft and real.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask", I said with red cheeks, "Are those real ?", I pointed to his ears and tail, which twitched at the question.

"Of course they are", he said, "Here you can even see", he said leaning his head to me.

"Just don't pull on them", he warned me.

I touched them and they were soft, I started rubbing them. Boris started purring, like a cat. I laughed and kept petting them till he pulled away.

"Alright, enough of that, you did come here to have fun right? Not just stand here and rub my ears?", he teased me. I nodded while giggling. The twins had just starred at the display.

"Yes", I admitted. And all three of them started pulling me towards a rollercoaster. I dug my heels into the ground.

"Wait you guys", I struggled. They stopped.

"I'm a little afraid of heights", I told them, looking up at the coaster with fear. They laughed.

"It's alright Ave, it'll be over before you could even look down", Boris said. They kept pulling me towards it, no matter how much I complained.

We all got on to the ride, I was shaking. I was sitting next to Boris, with the twins behind us. As soon as the ride started, I buried my head into Boris's shoulder. I think he finally got how scared I was.

"It's alright Ave, it's alright", he whispered as we started ascending the drop. He kept stroking my hair.

"Is onee-san okay?", the boys asked from behind.

"Yeah, she's just a little scared", Boris called to them. A little? I probably looked like a person having a seizure, I was shaking so hard. I felt two little hands on my shoulders.

"This is the worst part of it, after this it's great", Dee and Dum, told me. I nodded, my head still in Boris's shoulder.

Finally we got to the top. Even though I knew I shouldn't have, I looked out and nearly screamed. I could see the entire park.

"See it's great, now get ready for the drop", Boris said excitedly holding onto the handholds tightly.

It took a few seconds but we finally went down. I screamed as hard as I could, it felt like my stomach was up in my throat.

After it stopped and we got off, I realized that I had Boris's arm in a death hold. I let go and he winched.

"Okay, for the sake of my arm, let's not go on anymore rollarcoasters", he said rubbing his arm. Instead we went on every other ride in the park. My favorite was the octopus, it swung you around until you were sideways.

Then on the way out of the park we meet another person. A man that had somewhat long brown hair that was pulled back in a pony-tail and had a five-o-clock shadow on his chin. He was dressed in a suit that was covered in musical notes.

"Hey Boris, I was wondering where you were", he said, then he saw me, "Who's this ?"

"I'm Ave, I'm a outsider", I told him shyly. I had no clue why being a outsider was so important.

"Oh, a new person, well little lady my name's Mr. Gowland, would you like to hear a master piece", he said, pulling out a violin. Boris and the Twins were backing away, telling me to say no and for Gowland to put the instrument away.

"Oh he can't be that bad", I scolded them, they looked at me like I was nuts, "Sure Mr. Gowland, I would love to hear it", I said politely.

That's when the horror began. It sounded like a thousand nail scratching a black-board. It was pure torture.

Boris grabbed my hand and the boys, and ran to the gate to get away from the sound. I had no idea how he could last that long without his hands on his ears.

"Now do you see why you should listen to us?", the twins asked me. I nodded, learning my lesson.

I looked up at the sky and saw it was starting to get dark.

"I think we should get going guys", I said. They looked up and nodded.

"We should, it was fun play with Boris and onee-san though", Dee said. Boris looked sad.

"You guys could always stay the night", he said hopeful. The twins shook their heads.

"We can't, onee-san promised to let us show her our room, besides we have work to do tomorrow", Dum said. Boris looked at me.

"Please ?", he pleaded with me. I shook my head too.

"I'm sorry but I did promise them I would go, I'll visit you though", I promised. He still looked sad, but his eyes were a little happier.

"Alright, if you really have to go", he gave me a hug and said goodbye to the twins and we were on our way.

We got back to the mansion just as it turned into night. The boys brought me to their room and I nearly ran out. It was stocked with weapons of every kind. And they showed me all of them and told me how to kill someone with it.

After their tour they finally showed me their special weapon as they called it.

"It's the sharpest knife we have", Dee said as Dum went and got it. They pulled it out and showed it to me.

It's blade was gleaming. The handle looked like it was made with ivory. It had carvings of roses, vines, and thorns wrapping around the blade and onto the handle. It was beautiful.

"It looks like a demon made it", I commented on it as they held it out.

"Yeah, and the edge of it is even better, here let us show you", Dum said, as Dee went behind me. He pulled back my hair as Dee leaned in. He put the blade against my neck. I was frozen.

As Dee started pulling it across, I felt the pain and I snapped out of my trance. I started shouting for them to stop. I pulled away from the blade, and in the process, Dum fell behind me.

"Why onee-san, we were about to show you?", Dee asked me, Dum went to his side, both pairs of eyes were filling up with tears. I had no clue what to say, I was trying to stop the bleeding on my neck.

"Because you could have killed me", I shouted at them.

"Of course we were, how else could we show you how great the knife was", Dee said as if it was the first thing someone was taught in school.

"Yeah, you'd just get a replacement", Dum said.

"What the hell is a replacement?", I asked them, still pissed about all most being killed. They looked at each other.

That's when Elliot interrupted the fiasco.

"Hey Ave, so this is where you two were, it's bedtime and you guys have work tomorrow", he told the twins. They looked defiantly at Elliot.

"We don't have to do anything you day you blonde chick", they said carelessly. I stopped them.

"I think it is time for bed, after all it is night-time",I told them. They looked up at me pleadingly.

"Please Ave-san, we don't want to", they asked me. I shook me head.

"I'm tired, and I don't think I could handle another demonstration from another weapon of yours", I said, getting up. Elliot looked at me at, when I said that. He saw my neck.

"YOU DIPSHITS!", he said grabbing the boys collars, "What the hell did you do to Ave?", he asked them, shaking them. They actually looked afraid of him and they started explaining that they were just showing me their weapons. After that he put them down with a sigh.

"Good god, you guys, Ave doesn't have a replacement if she dies, if she does, she's just gone, not here anymore", Elliot tried to explain to the twins. They finally got it after explaining more, I sat back and tried to understand what a replacement was.

"We're sorry", the twins came running at me, and I pulled them into my arms.

"It's alright, I just can't play some of the games you guys play, none of the ones that involve someone dying", I told them. They nodded.

"Okay you guys, it really is getting late", Elliot broke up our mushy scene. I nodded and let go of the boys.

"You two go to bed and I'll show Ave where her room is alright?", he asked the twins. Dee and Dum nodded.

"We'll see you tomorrow onee-san", they told me as I left the room.

"Sorry about those two, is your neck okay", he asked looking at it again. The bleeding had slowed, but I was getting a little dizzy.

"Do you have a bandage for me to use?", I asked him. He nodded and steered me into a room. It was library and sitting at the desk was Blood. He looked up at us.

"Hello again Ave", he said. Elliot was in a closet next to a bookcase.

"Hi", I said, I could feel myself swaying. Elliot came back with a cloth.

"What happened?", Blood asked, getting up and coming over.

"The twins were messing around", Elliot explained, pulling my poor make-shift bandage off and putting the clean one on. The time in between made my wound go back to it's original flow. I collapsed, Blood caught me and held me up.

"I think we should get her to her room so she can rest", he told Elliot, who nodded, a little scared for me.

Blood picked me up and carried me to a room that was purple in color and decorated like it was for royalty.

"I had this room made in case you decided to stay the night one of these times", he explained, putting me down on the bed.

"Thank-you", I said weakly. I felt like everything I did was in slow motion.

"Do you think you're okay to leave alone?", he asked ,"I would stay with you , but I have a feeling you want to rest, something you wouldn't get from me if I stayed with you for the night", he said with a smirk. I blushed. How could he even think of that after just meeting me?

"I think I'm alright", I told him. He nodded and got up.

"I'll see you in the morning, I hope you'll join me for breakfast", he said, going to the door.

"I'll be there", I promised. He smiled and left.

I got up to change into a night-gown. I found in the closet there enough clothes to last me for years. I picked out a purple night gown that had lace around the edges. After changing I crawled into bed and waited to go to sleep. I found out I had the same problem as the night before, I felt lonely.

As if on queue, I saw the door open, and two little figures came into the room and crawled into bed.

"We were wondering if we could sleep with you onee-san", the boys asked sleepily. They were both in matching pajamas.

"Of course you can", I told them. They wrapped their arms around me and leaned their heads on each of my shoulders. Hearing their breaths and feeling another humans presence, I slowly fell asleep,


	6. Chapter 6

**Dear all who read, I've been having trouble trying to pick who Ave falls in love with, please review and give me a character. If anything I was leaning toward a Blood or Julius one, but I can choose, someone help me out! Until the next update enjoy this!**

I woke up in a place that was completely different than the one I fell asleep in. I was on what looked like a floating island in a place made up of purple clouds. At any rate it was better than the dreams I had last night.

"Is that so ?", a voice behind me asked. What is with people sneaking up behind me. First Ace, then Blood, now this guy. I turned around.

"Why my dear, it just means you have a terrible sense of direction", he said teasing me. He was dressed in black, which had a piece of fabric attaching both arm to each other, same thing with the legs, the funny thing was he was floating, which pulled the appearance off perfectly. His hair, even though his face looked young, was a solid dark gray, which was the color of the eye that wasn't covered with an eye-patch. Where did these people get these outfits I wonder?

"Easy we have them custom made", he answered. He was starting to get on my nerves from reading my mind. I sent him an image that could have made the Pope flinch and he stopped, in fact he fell next to me.

"Oww, no need to do that", he said.

"Sorry, but you shouldn't be reading peoples minds against their will", I informed him. Which brought me to think, who was he? I asked him.

"I'm Nightmare, a dream demon, I'm in charge of people's dreams, and you are Ave, someone I haven't seen before", he told me. He looked me, clearly looking for a reason behind this.

"I'm an outsider", I told him. He nodded.

"Ahh, you're the one who fell through the looking glass", he said, recognizing me, "Hmm, I wonder why I didn't see you last night", he said thoughtfully. It was clear he was trying to figure this out so I told him about my first night here.

"I couldn't sleep last night that much, and when I did I had nightmares", I told him. He looked at me alarmed.

"What do you mean nightmares?", I let him read my mind, I remembered being lonely and seeing the shadows that chased me. He looked satisfied, and I waited for an explanation. He didn't give me one, in fact he had a dreamy look on, so I asked.

"So, what was wrong with me?", I asked. He looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry my mind drifts sometimes", he explained, "What I think it is, is that your not supposed to be alone here. I went through your memories and I saw that the only time you weren't alone was when you were sleeping, even when you were a child you had someone sleeping next to you, which is why you had those nightmares last night, which I am sorry about, I wish I could have helped you with those, but even I can only do so much", he said. After he was done with his speech he looked over at me to see what I thought, and I saw he was right.

Even when I was a child I had someone, whether it was my mother, cousin, a pet, I always slept with someone. When I didn't I would have nightmares.

Though none of them had shadow in them like the ones last night, I thought with a shudder.

"What do you mean I shouldn't be alone, you're here with me?", I asked. He nodded.

"This is true, but I'm only here because you were happy when you fell asleep", he told me, "Last night when you were alone and scared you were already having a nightmare that transcended into a dream, that's why I couldn't reach you, otherwise I would have helped you".

I smiled, at least now I knew what I had to do to stop the nightmares.

"Hmm, well that's one worry down, all I have to do is be happy when I sleep and poof, I'm here", I said , "Think happy thoughts". H e chuckled.

"Why what other worries do you have besides you dreaming?", he asked. I thought of the twin's "game" and what a replacement was. Nightmare nodded and took my hand and he put it up to his chest. I expected to feel a heartbeat, but instead there was a ticking, like as if there was a clock in his chest. I looked up at him amazed.

"That's what they meant when they said replacement, when a person in this world dies the person's clock is broken, the body fades away and what's left is the broken clock", he explained, "Once the clock is fixed, a new image appears, that's the replacement. Unfortunately, those two twins didn't know you had a heart", he finished. I understood the clock thing, but I still was questioning something.

"But still, why would they willing kill someone? If a new image appears, then it isn't the same person from before, which means the person still dies", I said. Nightmare just shrugged.

"They don't know that, lives aren't taken very seriously here, except by the people with duties, and even then it isn't like in your world", he said sadly. I nodded and looked around. This place looked like something someone would write in a fantasy world. Nightmare read my thoughts again.

"We're in the dream world, I live here and control the dreams of everyone in Wonderland, I guess you could think of me as a person's conscious", he said, I remembered about the game.

"Is there anything you want to tell me about the game, I know Julius said I had to figure some stuff out for myself, but do you have anything to tell me?, I asked hopeful, I still didn't quite get the object of the whole thing.

He sighed and said, "Everyone in Wonderland will come to love you at the end, some will love you instantly, some it will take you a while, but everyone will love you and want you to be happy", he informed me. I gasped, that was the game, an entire world that loved me?

"And I love you too Ave, and I want you to be happy as well", Nightmare confessed while still staring at me. I was still in shock and nodded.

All of a sudden the island we were on started shaking. Nightmare looked around.

"Unfortunately you're starting to wake up and it is time for me to leave", he said and started to fade, "I'll see you in your dreams", his voiced echoed as I fell from the quaking piece of land.

I sat up and the twins arms and head fell off of me.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up and both of the twins arms fell off of me.

"Onee-san ?", they yawned. I wanted them to sleep for a little more so I told them I was just stretching. They fell asleep instantly and I crawled out of the bed. "Time for a bath", I thought.

I looked in the hall for a maid and I was surprised to see that there was one waiting for me. She bowed and said, "Would you like something Miss Ave?". I blinked. I wasn't used to being treated this way, first the bedroom now this, I was beginning to feel spoiled.

"Um yes, do you know where a bathtub would be?", I asked her politely. She nodded.

"Yes, there's one right down the hall, I'll show you it, but you might want to bring your clothes with you", she said. I told her to wait a moment and walked back into the room. The boy were still asleep when I got my clothes. I walked out and the maid was still where she was before.

"Follow me miss", she instructed walking down the hall at a brisk speed. I hurried to keep up.

She opened the door and I walked into what looked like a pool room. There was a heated pool in the middle of the room, tables and chairs were around it. Even more unbelievable was the fact that it was empty.

"Are you sure this is a bathtub, it looks like a pool", I asked her, taking small steps into the room. She chuckled.

"Mr. Dupre likes to have room when he bathes", she explained. I nodded weakly. Ok, now I feel really spoiled.

"If you need anything miss, I'll be right outside the door", she said leaving me alone. I put a toe in the bath and it was almost boiling, just the way I liked it. In a drawer on one of the tables I found some soap and shampoo, along with a scrub brush, I put these at the edge of the pool. Then I stripped down to my bra and underwear, I didn't like the idea of being in a pool naked. I put a towel around myself and slowly got into the bath. I sighed, the water smelled like flower petals and it was very soothing on my skin. I found a button at the bottom and when I pressed it, bubbles came out on all four sides of the pool. I relaxed on one and just felt it taking the tension away from my shoulders.

I was going for the shampoo, scrubber and soap when the door opened. In walked Blood, Elliot, and the twins. They were all in towels. Elliot went red when he saw me, Blood just stood there looking expressionless, and the twins came running toward the pool at me.

"Onee-san", they yelled as they jumped in. Both of their towel floated to the floor. The blush on my cheeks went even redder. Elliot was spluttering.

When the twins came up they swam over to me and hugged me. Then Dee backed away at me with a scowl on his face.

"When me and Dum woke up, you weren't there onee-san, we would have taken a bath with you if you had asked", he said with a sad tone. I got over seeing them without towels (after all, they thought I was their sister) and went over to Dee. I took him in my lap and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted you two to sleep a little more, and as for the bathing, I sort of wanted alone time to myself", I said. It seemed like the twins were a little young to know that boys and girls didn't bathe together, either that or they hadn't been around girls that much. But I didn't want them to feel bad, I didn't mind it that much. It was the other two I was worried about. Elliot was staring at Dee who was still hugging me, and Blood was smirking at the display.

"Um, I really don't know what you two want to do?", I said embarrassed, thank god I still had panties and a bra on. The twins cut in.

"We heard that you were taking a bath and we told Boss and he wanted to come too", they said, "Newbie hare saw us coming here, so he came too". I glared at Blood, he was certainly old enough to know the boy-girl rule. He just smirked even more.

"You know Ave, you usually don't wear clothes when you're taking a bath", he pointed out. I was blushing so hard.

"Yes well, boys and girls don't usually bathe together either", I said. The twins jumped at this, as I expected.

"Onee-san, does that mean you don't want us to bathe with you", they asked, their faces sad. I automatically felt bad.

"No, you two are more like siblings to me, besides you two are more like children, Blood and Elliot are older, they know better, or at least one of them do", I shot Blood a death-glance. He stepped forward and got into the bath. His towel floated nearby. I looked anywhere but at him. Elliot was still standing where he was when he came in.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but this is very relaxing", Blood said, moving closer to the twins and I, so he could be on one of the pipes with the bubbles.

I couldn't take it anymore, I got out, trying to move as quickly as I could. I picked up my clothes and towel, and walked out of the room. I heard Elliot mumble he was sorry as I passed. I stopped and told him it wasn't his fault. Blood chuckled as I closed the door. I stayed by the door so I could eavesdrop.

"Why did you do that ?", Elliot asked, I could hear him getting into the tub. The twins chimed in with the same question.

"Easy, I wanted to see how she would react", Blood said.

"Yes, but why did you do it in that way, now she's going to think you're some sort of pervert", Elliot pointed out. I did think that, I wanted to shout..

"Who said I wasn't some sort of pervert, besides I think she's gone a little further than just looking", he accused me. I grew angry at this.

"Why do you think that ?", Elliot asked, he sounded appalled.

"Have you seen her, the way she walks, to me she seems too confident, like she knows that she's sexy or something", Blood said. What the Hell was he talking about ?

"She doesn't seem that way to me", Elliot said quietly. I sighed, at least Elliot was confident in me, even though he shouldn't have to even think about this, Blood needed to get a CAT scan.

"Mark my words, she'll be seducing every man in Wonderland in no time", Blood went even further. That's when I walked back in. I walked over to Blood and kneeled down so I was eye-level with him.

"You have no clue what you're talking about", I exploded in his face (Not that way for you perverts).

"I am a decent person, who still has her innocence, unlike you", I thundered, he just sat there. Elliot and the twins were cowering at me. I leaned even closer so my mouth was at his ear.

"And as for seducing every man in Wonderland, you are very wrong,. I would never even waste my energy on you", I whispered. Now he was angry. His face wasn't red or anything like that, his eyes were trying to burn a hole through mine. I walked back to the door and looked back at the other three people in the pool.

"I'll see you guys at breakfast", I said, cheerfully.

Blood's POV

I looked at her as she left. No one speaks to me like that. Not without payback.

"Blood, now you know she was just venting at you right, there's no reason to do anything unrational", Elliot was trying to calm me down. Yes, there is, just not at the moment, my conscious told me evilly. My anger subsided.

"No, you're right, I won't do anything to her about her words, but unfortunately she was eavesdropping on us, wasn't she", I said with out emotion, "She does have to pay for that"


	8. Chapter 8

I went back to my room and got dressed. I was still fuming about what Blood said. I couldn't believe him! He barely knew me for two days and he was talking about me like I was a slut.

Well you know what, that's his problem, I decided I wouldn't talk to him, it would be like he wasn't in existence. That also being said, I wouldn't be sleeping over here anymore, I would visit, but no over-nights.

I walked out to breakfast with a scarlet dress on. It was trimmed in black velvet and across the bodice there were strings to tie, making it look a little corset-like. It went down to mid-thigh and it had short sleeves. I put on white/black striped socks and I was surprised to find sneakers in the closet. Finally I put my hair down and just let it flow down my back, along with putting on my usual black eyeliner. On the way out I looked on the dresser and I found a carved black rose on a silver chain. It was so beautiful, I put it on and walked out.

From the instructions I had from the maids I found the dining room pretty quickly. I walked in to find all of the guys, clothed, talking and eating. Blood looked up at me and looked me over. When he was finished he raised his eyebrows and went back to eating. I was foaming at the mouth, but I kept quiet. I sat down next to Elliot, who was blushing and I looked at the food in front of us. All of the food in front of Elliot seemed to have carrots in them, even the eggs had bits of carrot in them. I leaned over to the other side and picked up a plate of waffles and bacon.

"So Elliot, it seems like you like carrots right?", I asked trying to start a conversation. The twins were quiet to my surprise.

"Um yeah, my favorite has to be the carrot soup", he said. His ears twitched and my hand twitched with them. For some reason I really wanted to touch them.

"Um Elliot, I was wondering. . .", I trailed off. This was so embarrassing, but if I felt like I was about to jump on him. He was in the middle of eating carrot waffles.

"Yeah Ave", he said, trying not to choke.

"I was wondering if I could touch your ears?", I asked, my face going red. He laughed. The twins were looking at me like I had two heads.

"Ha-ha, sure just don't pull on them", he chuckled. He leaned his head to me and I stroked them. They weren't as soft as Boris's but they were silkier. After a few minutes and a couple of snores coming out, I realized Elliot had fallen asleep. The twins and Blood were looking at him trying not to laugh.

I took my hands off of his ears and he just went on sleeping.

"Um, what do we do with him?", I asked the guys. They shrugged.

"He's never let anyone touch his ears before, I guess that's why, but then again you're a bit more "special" than most girls, aren't you", Blood said, putting air quotes in the sentence. I was once again fuming.

"Yeah, newbie hare would never let us touch his ears, not that we wanted to anyway", Dee added. Blood was still looking at me for an answer. I got up.

"Well it's been a fun stay here, but I should be going, Julius must have been worried when I didn't come home yesterday", I announced. I realized I had called the Tower home, then again, since I would be staying there, I guess I could call it home. Blood's eyes narrowed.

"Hmm, you know, you still haven't apologized for eavesdropping on our conversation this morning, I would appreciate it if you did, before leaving", he said, a threat in his voice. I laughed, which put a shocked look to his face, only it disappeared in a second.

"You really think I'm gonna apologize for hearing you talk about me like I was a whore, even though you've only known me for two days", I ranted. I got up and walked to the door. The twins grabbed my dress.

"Please onee-san, don't leave, won't you live here with us?", they pleaded, with their puppy-eyes. But I had my mind made up, if a certain Hatter was going to keep harassing me, I couldn't stay here, but I didn't tell them that. I gave them the reason about the neutral territory.

"Besides, I promise to visit", I told them, they pouted. I walked out and asked a maid where the front gates were, they pointed me in the direction. After going down two flights of stairs I heard footsteps behind me, it turns out it was the twins.

"Could we at least go with you to the Tower?", they asked, I nodded.

I could tell they were still bummed about my answer, but throughout the trip they were somewhat cheerful and were happy to show me the weird flowers there were in Wonderland. The forests seemed to have a certain magical sense to them as we walked through.

Apparently, even though we had just had breakfast, it was around 3:00, according to Dum's wrist watch. As we walked around a bend Ace came stumbling out of the bushes.

"Hey guys, what are you doing out here?", he asked, with a confused note in his voice.

"Going to the Tower", I told him. He nodded and did a total circle in the spot.

"Could you maybe point me in the direction of the Castle?", he asked. I looked at the twins, I had no clue where we were. They looked at each other evilly.

"Sure we could", Dee said.

"For a price", Dum added. I looked at them with a stern look.

"What price?", I asked slowly.

"One kiss for each of us", they said in unison. I looked at them dumbly. They couldn't possibly be serious.

"Really guys?", I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes", Dee said gravely.

"One each", Dee ended. I sighed. Why not, I asked myself, it's probably one of their games.

"Alright, but then you two have to help Ace, I think I know where I'm going", I said. They nodded in agreement.

I bended down and gave Dee a chaste kiss on the cheek and then I went over to Dum. I went to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head at the last second and kissed me on the lips. I jumped up and he fell to the ground laughing.

"Whoa, Dum tapped Ave", Ace said, "You naughty girl". I gave him a death-glare and he held up his hands, just kidding. Dum was still chuckling, while Dee was standing there with a pout on.

"No fair", Dee cried. I hugged him.

"It's okay, at least now I know who's the trickster out of the two of you", I said, letting him go. Then I kissed him on the lips. He went over and gave Dum a high-five. They whispered to each other and I think I heard things like "newbie hare" and "torture". I didn't want to know.

"Now since I did my part of the bargain, you two have to take Ace to the Castle", I said. They nodded and grabbed on to Ace's sleeves and began pulling him the opposite way he had come.

"Bye onee-san, we'll see you soon", the twins called behind them. Ace looked back at me.

"You know Ave, this means you'll have to give me a kiss next time you see me", he teased. I stuck out my tongue and continued on my way.

I got to the Tower and walked through the door. I went up to the stairs.

"Hello, Julius?", I called. Someone sighed behind me. I turned and Julius was sitting at the table working on another clock.

"You really should look around before you start yelling", he advised me. I smiled sheepishly.

Sitting down, I thought about me being here.

"Um Julius, since I'm staying here, I was wondering if you needed any help?", I asked. I did feel like I was taking too much from this world and not giving enough back. He stiffened and shook his head.

"It's alright, I can do fine on my own", he said. I rolled my eyes, he was playing the strong guy role.

"Yes, but I want to make it a bit easier for you, really I don't mind if it's just making errands", I persisted. He glanced at me. I could see him jumbling the idea.

"Alright, you can help, but I really don't want you to think you're forced to do anything", he said gently. I nodded. I looked out the window and saw that it was dusk.

"Um, do you want anything for dinner?", I asked. He shook his head.

"No, I really don't eat that much". It was my turn to shake my head. I finally got that he was pretty much a hermit up here in this Tower. He was the male impression of Rapunzel.

I went into the kitchen and found some meat and pasta. In less than a half an hour I had spaghetti and meat sauce, with a loaf of garlic bread. I brought some out to Julius and he looked at it as if it were a plate of sludge.

"What exactly is this", he said, swishing the fork around the plate with a look of disgust. I giggled.

"Haven't you ever had Italian food before?", I asked in disbelief.

"No, I have no clue what "Italian" is, let alone have I ever tasted any of it's delicacies", he said his nose turned up in distaste.

"Just try it", I said, putting my hand over and taking his fork. I swirled it around his pasta and handed it to him. He looked at me and put it up to his mouth like it was something radioactive. After chewing it, his face lit up, I held in another giggle. He took another bite, this time it was the garlic bread.

"Wow, I'm sorry if I had any doubts, this is delicious", he congratulated me. I laughed out loud, going back to my own plate. Then I remembered something I had wanted to ask Julius.

"Um, last night I had a dream about a person named Nightmare", I started, "And well he told me that people here had clocks, not hearts, I was wondering if you had anything to do with that?", I asked slowly. He looked up and me with unease.

"I don't think I can tell you that Ave, it has to do with the game", he stated slowly. I shook my head.

"It's not that, I was just thinking, Nightmare also said that if a clock was fixed then a new image would appear", I said, remembering his words, "Are you the one who fixes them here?"

He sighed and mumbled something incoherently, I heard something like "damn dream demon".

"Yes, I do", he muttered. He sounded so depressed about it, I found what he did as very important, maybe even a little heroic. I know I could never do this, I couldn't touch another person's clock, not without the fear of me breaking it or do something wrong.

"You shouldn't be sad about it, it's a needed thing, you bring life to things that should be dead. I found watching you fix these clock pretty magical actually", I said, remembering the morning before. He looked up with a cynical face on.

"Really? Most people find what I do as a dark, sinful thing. After all when you think about, I'm the equivalent of an undertaker in your world", he told me gravely. I shook my head.

"Undertakers deal with dead things, but they don't bring them back to life, you do. That's a very big difference between you and them", I said. He shook his head and got up with an empty plate.

"You can think what you want, but you have a very different view on things, much more different than the people here", he told me, putting the dishes in the sink. I could literally see waves of depression coming off of him. I gave up.

I said goodnight and he went back to his table and mumbled a goodnight to me.

I climbed up the stairs to my bedroom and switched into a night gown. Now I was faced with a dilemma. I sat down, a little afraid of going to sleep. Those shadows seemed so mysterious and frightening.

"Just think happy thoughts", I said to myself as I put my head on my pillow. I thought of my brothers, only that lead to thinking about if I never saw them again.

"Oh this is not going to be a fun night", I thought.


	9. Chapter 9

**I still haven't picked between Blood and Julius, I'm sorry for the lovers of the other characters, I'll write another story after I'm finished with this one. Anyhoo, I guess I'm making a love triangle between the three. Tell me if you like it! P.S. I had to add a little fluff to this chapter, it'll fit in to the main scene later on.**

"Ahh", my eyes flew open, the shadows had almost gotten me.

I looked at the clock on the night-stand, 1:30. I had fallen asleep like 10 minutes ago, and now I was back awake.

Every time I had fallen asleep I had woke up in a dark place that had only a little light. The darkness surrounding the light seemed to move and take shapes of hands. The worse part was the eyes that hid in the dark, I could feel them laughing at me, waiting me to turn my back so they could pounce on me.

I had to find another person, even if it was a maid or someone. I got out of bed and walked to the door. Opening it I tip-toed out and down the steps to the kitchen below. I looked in to find it empty.

"Ughh", I sighed. I tried to remember where Julius said his room was. Down a floor and to the right, if I remembered correctly. I walked up the stair a floor and found a hall that split in two. I took the right hall and it led to two doors. I took the right one again and walked into a master's bedroom.

The entire room color was blue and gold and it was decorated with clocks, I could hear a million little tickings. And on the bed was a sleeping Julius. I walked over and stood by the king-size bed.

I really had no clue how I was supposed to ask this. I looked at his face and I saw a young man's face, completely different from the one he wore when he was awake. Where as he was usually tired and morbid, this one was peaceful and even had a hint of a smile on it. It made me smile.

I tapped on one of his arms, and he opened his eyes a little.

"Um Julius, I sorta had a bad dream, do you mind if I sleep in your room for the night?", I asked, my voice a little small. He nodded and rolled over on his side. I giggled, he probably didn't even know what I was asking. But oh well, if I was to get any sleep tonight, this was the only way.

I climbed into the bed and sank. His mattress had to have been made out of something poofy, but it was comfy and soft. I pulled the covers over me and listened to Julius's breathing, along with the tickings of the clocks in the room. I went out like a light.

I appeared in the dream place. Nightmare was there floating upside down. I turned my head and greeted him. He chuckled and flipped right side up.

"Why hello there", he said and his eyes concentrated a little. I rolled my eyes, he was probing my memories.

"You know I told you not to do that", I warned him, "I'll just think about another disgusting thing". He flinched.

"Fine, but I already got what I wanted", he said, waving his hand, "You know, I would never think the clock maker would let you sleep in the Tower, let alone his own bed". I blushed.

"You know I have nightmares", I mumbled. He looked sympathetic.

"I know, but I would still ask before the person goes to sleep, poor Julius will be surprised when he wakes up", he said flipping upside down again. I sighed.

"Alright, but I mean come on how embarrassing is it to ask to sleep in another person's bed?", I asked exasperatedly, "Besides I was trying to be happy before I went to sleep, but it just didn't work".

Nightmare shook his head, "Didn't you listen to me, it's a rule, you can never be alone. If you are, then the shadows will follow you. I don't know why it's a rule for you, it shouldn't be, but it is", he said, almost a little angrily. I asked him why he was upset. I was upset too, there shouldn't be a rule about having to sleep with other people.

"Because, I don't like you being scared, and I should be able to control what you're dreaming so there isn't such a thing as these shadows", he muttered. I felt bad about this, he shouldn't feel bad about not being able to help me. I went over and pulled him down so he was sitting, it surprised him. I sat down next to him.

"It's alright, you make it sound like I'm fragile", I told him, "I can take care of myself, and now I know better than to sleep alone". I smiled, trying to show I was happy and I was. He read my mind, which I let go for once, and saw that I was and he smiled too.

"So is there anything else you're having trouble with?", he asked. I thought about my experiences here.

"Yes, a certain Hatter seems to think I'm a-", I stopped, I really didn't want to call myself it, "a unfaithful person I guess you could say", I let. He understood what I was saying and he laughed to my surprise.

"You seem to have a very poor memory, remember me saying that everyone in Wonderland will love you at some point?", he asked. I nodded. Blood certainly didn't seem to love me, in fact he seemed to hate me.

"Well, that's just his way of falling in love with you, but I would be careful around him. He can be very violent, and along with love comes frustration and jealousy, which brings out the worst in every body", he advised me.

I almost fell of the island from laughing so hard. Blood be in love with me? Nightmare just sat there and watched me rolling around. When I had calmed down he had an amused look on his face.

"You just wait and see, people who seem to be your enemies will turn out to be your lovers, and your lovers will turn out to be your enemies, especially when they start to see others giving their love to you", he said playing with my hair. I sat up straight. I just thought of something disturbing.

"But I can't love everyone, and I don't want to hurt anyone either", I whispered. He looked sad for me.

"It's just the way things are here", he said simply. Then he stood up.

"I think it's time you woke up", he said, the island falling out from underneath me, this time I was prepared.

"I'll see you in the next dream I have", I said waving. He chuckled at me and waved too.

Julius's POV

I woke up and it was still dark outside of my window. I looked at the clock, 3:00 am, too early to get up. I closed my eyes and rolled over and almost went on top of something warm and soft. I was afraid to see what it was.

I opened my eyes to a sleeping Ave who was now repositioning herself against my chest. I tried to move away, but she moved even closer, still in her sleep. I sighed, it was either put up with this or wake her up. I looked down at her face, which was directly above my heart. Her face was peaceful, yet it looked like she was suppressing a laugh like it usually did. I didn't want to break the calmness of her so I put my arms around her and closed my eyes. I could still feel the thumping of her heart from her, which had sped up when I wrapped my arms around her. Hmm, I guess she could still feel something in her sleep. Slowly I lost myself to the nonsense images of sleep.

Ave's POV

The light of day greeted the backs of my eyelids when I left the dream world. I tried to stretch, but found myself trapped under a warm branch of some kind, and I was pressed to a rock.

No, not a branch, a arm, which was attached to something. No not something, someone. I looked up and saw Julius's peaceful face, and the rock turned out to be his pajama-clad chest.

My ear was just above where his heart should have been, and I could hear a ticking.

I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. Then I tried to wake him up.

"Julius, wake up", I whispered. He mumbled something. I said it even louder and he finally opened his eyes. It took him a little to see where he was and who he was with, but he figured it out and took his arm off of me. I backed up.

"Um, I'm sorry for sleeping here, but I couldn't get to sleep last night", I apologized. He was still trying to clear his head.

"It's alright", he said, getting up. I took the covers off of me and sat up. He was standing there, with a confused face on, like he didn't know what to say. I realized he probably wanted to get dressed. I jumped up and walked out of the room.

"I'll see you at breakfast", I said, as I walked past him. Wow, talk about awkward, I thought, running a hand through me hair as I climbed up to my room.


	10. Chapter 10

The weeks passed by slowly. The morning after Julius had found me in his bed, I told him about my nightmares and about my special rule. He had understood and told me it was alright to sleep in his room. That being said, I always tried to get to the Tower when I visited somewhere, just so I wouldn't have to go through the embarrassing conversation of my problem with anyone. I would sleep on one side of the bed and him on the other, but somehow we would end up curled next to each other.

On the second week of my stay in Wonderland I got a message from a faceless messenger. Opening it I saw a coat of arms that included a giant heart in the middle with other little card symbols surrounding it. The envelope contained a letter.

It read: _Dear Aveline, We would like to invite you to tea with us tomorrow at 12:00. It would be a great chance to introduce ourselves and to get to know each other. An escort will be waiting for you outside of the Tower to take you to the Castle. We can not wait to meet you. Sincerely, The Queen Of Hearts._

I took the letter inside and showed it to Julius. He read it and gave it back.

"I would go, it could get you on better terms with the queen", he said simply.

The next morning I was ready and waiting for someone to pop out or something and Ace came tumbling out of the bushed with another person trailing behind him.

"Stupid knight, I still have no idea why the queen wanted you to come with me", he muttered to himself. I could see him clearly and I was surprised to find that he had white rabbit ears on top of his head, blending into his white hair. The rest of him was dressed in another suit, with a giant pocket watch. He looked at me and I saw he also had red eyes, only his were a darker shade than Ace's.

"Ave, I thought we'd never find you", Ace cried and he ran over and gave me a bear hug. I laughed and hugged him back.

"Of course you wouldn't find her, you couldn't find a tree if it was planted in front of you", the rabbit grumbled. I let go of Ace and went over to him.

"Hello my name's Aveline, you could call me Ave, what's your name?", I asked, holding out my hand. He smiled and took my hand.

"Peter, Peter White", he put my fingers up to his lips and gave them a kiss. I blushed and took my hand away from him.

"Aw, no fair Ave, the twins got to give you a kiss, now Peter, when's it my turn", Ace complained, behind us. I turned around and gave him a playful slap.

"You can't have one unless you catch me", I ran and hid behind Peter. He ran after me.

"Which direction is the Castle in?", I asked Peter as me and Ace ran circles around him. Peter had just stood there and watched us.

"In that direction", he pointed north. I ran into the woods with Ace on my heels.

"Come on White, if you catch her you can have a kiss too", Ace yelled. I heard Peter crash into the woods.

"Only problem with that", I shouted, "You'll never catch me!". The dress I had on slowed me down a little, but I had years of running around with my brothers to help me. Unfortunately Ace was a trained knight and probably could run for hours.

Eventually he caught up with me and speed up. He quick moved in front of me and we went tumbling onto the forest floor. Peter stopped short, mumbling curses and trying to get his breath.

I landed with Ace in top of me, with his face in my chest! I tried to push him off of me, but he was too heavy.

"Hey, I can hear your heartbeat", Ace said, taking his head and putting his ear above my left breast. My face went as red as a beet.

"Ace get off of me, the condition was one kiss, not you getting to molest me", I scolded him. He relented and stood up. He held out his and pulled me up. Peter was watching the whole thing, with hooded eyes. Like he hated Ace? I shuddered, it had to be nothing.

"You know what this means", Ace whispered and took me into his arms. He put a hand under my chin and lifted my head upward. He placed his lips on mine and held them there.

I waited a moment and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, and he pushed his lip to mine fiercely. I started to panic, only he was pulled off of me. By Peter?

"I think that qualifies as a kiss", he said, his face was a little angry. I wondered why

"Yeah Ace, that was no where near what I gave the twins", I told him, giving him a glare. He shrugged.

"Yeah, but their kids, I'm an adult, which means I get the adult version", he said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. I shook my head, I had learned to just go along with Ace's weird ways.

"Yes well, the deal's done, now can we go to the castle?", I asked. They both nodded and we went on our way, as if nothing had happened. I would have to watch myself with Ace, even the smallest little hint of permission could set him off.

We got to the castle and the guys led me through the giant doors and into a small tea room. I had looked at the halls and now in the small room, I could see that everything was decorated with hearts, even the windows had stained glass hearts built into them.

The person in the room was the incarnation of this fact. Her dress was made out of many fabrics, all of them in different shades of red. The top of the dress rounded up her shoulders to form the top of a heart. The crown on her head had rubies of different sized, all carved hearts. The necklace and staff she carried were decorated with hearts. She was definitely the queen of hearts.

I curtsied, something I thought I would never have to do, and she nodded her head.

"Hello, we are Vivaldi, and you must be Ave, Ace had told us about you", the regal woman greeted me. Her voice was sweet, yet in its tone I could hear authority.

"It's nice to meet you, I didn't know Ace spoke of me", I said carefully. I really had no clue what to say to her. She laughed.

"You sound so apprehensive, it's alright", she chuckled. I smiled and sat down in the chair next to her. Peter and Ace sat across from us.

"I have to ask, what do you think of us, the people of Wonderland?", Vivaldi asked me. I looked at her confused.

"Well, everyone seems really nice, which is a lot different from the people of my world", I started. Now the other two looked interested in this.

"What do you mean differently?", Peter asked. I shook my head, I thought of all the murders, rapists, molesters, and even the coldness other people who did nothing had to others.

"Every one treats everybody like their about to put a knife in their backs, and since we don't have replacements like you guys do, our lives are taken more seriously. Which means killing someone means a lot more", I mumbled. All three of them were saddened by this.

"You all have a sense of manner and hospitality that people in my world basically hate. No offense, but I think if one of you guys showed up in my world, you wouldn't last a day. Someone would have killed or did something even more horrible to you", I said, morbidly. Ace laughed at this.

"I'd love to visit this place, it sounds like a real vacation place", he chuckled. The rest of us looked at him like he was mad.

"I think we should talk about something less dark", Peter put in, after Ace had recovered from his laughing fit.

We moved on to more happy topics, like interesting stories about balls that had been held here, tea parties that had gone airy, and the weirdest people that had been there. Then I got curious and asked some questions.

"I was wondering, I still really don't understand this world, I mean why the erratic time schedule?", I asked, I still hadn't been able to understand there clocks here. It would be like 12:00 pm at noon, and it would be sunset outside.

"We can't control it, the person who does that is the Joker, and we try to stay away from him", Ace explained to me. I nodded, this Joker guy was strange, Vivaldi had told a story about him coming into one of the balls and disrupting the whole thing.

"I think you should be leaving, it seems like we are going to have an early sunset tonight", Vivaldi said getting up, "White will you accompany Ave back to the Tower, unless she would like to stay here?", she looked at me. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but I would feel more comfortable at the Tower", I said standing up. The queen nodded and left.

"Come on, I hope to get to the Tower before night falls, after all there are strange things in our forests at night", Peter said, holding out his hand. I took it and he lead me back to the giant doors. Ace followed us and opened the doors.

We got back to the Tower right as the sky turned it's dark blue color. I walked in and Julius was in his usual seat working on clocks. Peter and Ace filed in behind me. There was no way they could get back to the castle at this time.

"Um Julius, do you mind if Ace and Peter stay the night?", I asked him. He looked up and nodded.

"Do you two remember where the guest rooms are?", he asked the two. Peter nodded, but Ace looked a little confused about it. Julius looked annoyed.

"Of course, you wouldn't, could you take him to a room White?, Peter nodded and grabbed Ace's collar and pulled him up the steps.

"Nighty-night Ave", Ace called. I put my hand to my head and started up the stairs. Then I stopped.

"Julius, do you want me to come tonight?", I asked. I always waited in my room until like 12:00 and then I crept to his room. He thought about it.

"You can do what you wish, but I think you'll be alright, as long as these two stay in their beds tonight", he said. I nodded and went up to my room.

I got into bed and waited till midnight. I really didn't feel anything for Julius besides a really close friendship, but I knew the other two wouldn't think that if they saw us together. I crept to his room and snuck into his bed. Of course, he was awake and mumbled a goodnight to me. I sighed and felt relaxed as I let my head fall from the world.

Ace's POV

I had went out to get a glass of water from the kitchen, but I got lost on the way back. This always seemed to happen to me. I walked up the stairs until I felt like I was on the right floor. It turned out to be a hallway, I took the right way, since right is my favorite direction.

I opened the door and found myself looking at Ave and Julius curled up next to each other.

"Huh, that's why Ave doesn't like me that much, the clockmaker already had her wrapped around his finger", I thought. That made me jealous.

Now what way would be the best to deal with the situation.

I snuck into the bed and put myself in between the two. Ave wrapped her arms around me and I could feel Julius put a arm around my waist. I almost giggled, but I held it in.

Actually this felt pretty comfy, I closed my eyes and drifted.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up to me wrapped around someone's torso. I looked up and I jumped back and fell off the bed. Thankfully my fall didn't wake Ace up, but I was still in shock that he was in the bed. With Julius.

I looked around Ace and I laughed silently. Julius had his arm around Ace's waist and had his head buried in Ace's neck. I fell to the ground and let it all out. The two woke up, looked at each other and Ace broke the moment by saying, "You have beautiful eyes". Julius's face went bright red as Ace fell down with me laughing. Then I felt bad as Julius's eyes flickered to me. I could see hurt and humiliation in them.

"I knew you would do something childish like this", he muttered and went out of the room. I calmed down at this and hurried after him. I had no clue how it had happened, let alone did I plan it.

"Julius, I swear I didn't do this, I was just as surprised as you were", I yelled at his retreating back. He glared back at me, and pulled open a door, went in it, and slammed it shut before I could even touch the door. I pounded on it.

"Please let me in, Ace was just being a moron", I shouted. He opened it and looked at me like I was a piece of trash.

"The only reason I let you stay here was because you were an outsider. You can still stay here if you wish, but my sleeping quarters are off limits", he hissed and slammed the door again.

I leaned on the wall across from the door. He was basically saying that he didn't want me here, since he knew about my nightmares and how I didn't sleep alone. I still felt the hurt of being rejected for something I didn't even do. As much as I tried not to, I felt tears fall down my face.

I stood up and walked back to my room, leaving trails of tears on the floor. While I was going there, Ace was walking around and saw me. He rushed over and asked me what was wrong. I look at him in anger, this was all his fault.

"You and your stupid prank made me get kicked out of here, and now Julius hates me", I sneered at him. I felt bad about venting this to him, but he was the one who started this. He looked hurt, then he asked where Julius was.

I shook my head and pointed down the hallway I had come from. He hurried down it and I went back to my room and tried to calm myself. I was still crying in frustration.

Ace's POV

I saw Ave walking around with her face wet. I went over to her and she looked up at me like she was about to murder me. I knew it was a stupid question, but I asked her what was wrong.

"You and your stupid prank made me get kicked out of here, and now Julius hates me", she growled. I flinched at her. She was upset and I had caused it. Which means there was only one way to fix this.

"Where's Julius's now?", I asked, she pointed behind her. I walked away from her and started grabbing knobs of doors. I finally found one that was locked. This had to be the one.

"Julius, you in there dude?", I called at it.

"Go away", drawled a voice. I pounded on the door. It was pretty solid.

"Let me in", I shouted at it. He answered simply, "No".

"You know I can easily break down the door", I lied, hopefully he believed it, "Besides, you have to tell Ave that you didn't mean what you said". He did a fake laugh.

"Why should I?", he asked, "Both of you were acting like children". This got me angry.

"Ave didn't do anything, it was all me!", I yelled, "Now she's crying in her room, all because you're being a complete jerk to her, when she didn't do anything!". It was silent on the other side of the door. This pissed me off even more.

"What? Now you're going to ignore me? You tell her off for nothing, and now you can't swallow your own pride, just to go to her room and apologize", I ranted. The door opened. And a guilty looking person came out.

"Is she really crying?", he asked. I nodded, clenching my fists. He sighed.

"And she really didn't do anything?", he asked. I nodded again.

"Fine I'll apologize", he turned to the left and started toward her room. I followed him. I thought it was funny that we were still in our pajamas.

Ave's POV

The door opened and Julius came in. He looked at me and a guilty look came onto his face. I tried to hide my tears and face, but he came over and pulled my hands away from my face. I looked anywhere but his face. He sighed.

"I'm sorry for saying what I said, I was angry and I wasn't thinking right", he said softly. I was still embarrassed that he had found me crying about this, so I tried to hide my face. He let go of one of my hands and put a finger under my chin. He pulled my face up so my hazel orbs met his cobalt ones. A few loose tears slid from my eyes. I was surprised when he leaned his head in and kissed those tears. I tried to say something but I stuttered as it came out. He shushed me.

"I am really really sorry, please forgive me and stay here", he said, waiting for my response.

"I-I forgive you", I forgave him. He nodded and pulled us up so we were standing".

"I think we should get dressed", he said and he walked to the door. Now was when we saw Ace peeking through the door.

"Ace!", we yelled at him. He laughed and fell away from the door. I went over and opened the door.

"What should we do with him?", I asked Julius who had walked to my side.

"I don't know, didn't the Iron Maiden go out of style with the Medieval Ages?", he asked. I shrugged.

"We could always bring it back", at this Ace stopped and straightened up.

"It's not my fault you and the clockmaker have something going on", he said, me and Julius went red, "But anyway, I wanted to say I was sorry for making both of you hate each other", he said turning around and walking away. I ran and grabbed his sleeve.

"I really don't think you should be wandering around on your own", I scolded him, I turned around.

"Julius, could you take him to his room?", he looked annoyed, "Unless you want him to stay here wandering the halls", I said, with a knowing smile on.

"Hey I think I would find my room after a little while", said Ace as Julius came and took his collar. I scoffed.

"I don't think a century is a little while", I said. Julius chuckled and pulled Ace up the stairs. Ace turned and stuck his tongue out at me. I giggled, he was crazy.

Julius's POV

I was still a little mad at Ace, but not at Ave. Not after seeing her cry, just because I had told her I didn't want her sleeping in my bed anymore. Then again it wasn't her fault anyway. It was the person who I was pulling that was the cause.

"You know you can be very annoying when you want to be", I told him. He nodded.

"I know, hopefully Ave doesn't feel that way though", he said, I froze, "I don't want her to be mad at me, after all I hope to make her fall in love with me", he said. This caused a crack of jealousy to go through me. I pulled a little harder on his collar.

"Ow, no need to do that, just because you're jealous", I silenced him with another pull, "Okay, really stop, I don't know why you're mad anyway, you're the one who gets to sleep next to her", he said. I really wanted to strangle him.

"You really don't know how to be quiet, do you?", I asked him, showing my irritation in my voice. He shook his head.

"Nope, I find pleasure in telling people what I think, unlike you", he said. I calmed myself with a few deep breaths.

"You know you're actually the annoying one, you keep all you're emotions bottled up, I wouldn't be surprised if you turned into a axe-murderer one of these days", he said, ignoring the waves of irritation coming off of me.

I took a piece of cloth I had in my pocket that I used to wipe the oil off of my hands. I turned around and tied it across Aces mouth in a complicated knot, nice and tight so he couldn't just slide it off. Then I turned back around and pulled him to his room, ignoring his muffled voice.

When we got there I opened the door and threw him in, and continued on my way.

Ave's POV

Breakfast that morning was awkward. I made breakfast and everything, and when the guys came down I didn't look up. That is until Ace came up to me. I looked up and saw a dirty cloth wrapped around his mouth tightly.

"Who did that?", I cried. I looked over at Peter and Julius, who were getting coffee. Peter shook his head and pointed at Julius, who gave him a annoyed look.

"That wasn't me, though I give him points for thinking of it, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before", Peter said, busying himself with the sugar. I gave Julius a glare and he returned it with a innocent look.

"Fine, turn around so I can untie it", I told Ace. Peter and Julius waved at me not to. I ignored them and untied the knot.

"Wow Julius, you must have been in the cub scouts, this knot is hard", I grumbled as I untied.

"What's the cub scouts?", he asked, getting a plate of eggs. I shook my head, of course they didn't know what the cub scouts are.

"It's a club for young boys, it teaches them about wilderness survival, plus it teaches you different knots", I explained, the knot finally came free and I pulled the cloth off of Ace's head. He turned to me.

"Sounds like a group I'd enjoy, can I join", he asked. I looked at him with a duh expression.

"It's in my world, besides do you look like a young boy", I asked, getting up and thunking him gently on the head. I handed the dirty rag back to Julius who looked at it in disgust. Ace had drooled on it a little.

"Oh will the torture never end", Julius growled, putting the cloth in a straw basket for dirty clothes. Ace shook his head.

"Not as long as I'm around", he said, putting his fist to his chest, like he was a hero. Though he did stop and we finished breakfast in peace.

The boys left, though they were both pleading for me to come with them. I shook my head and told them I wanted to stay here for the day. Which I did, and had a peaceful day watching Julius fix the clocks and reading books.


	12. Chapter 12

After running around with Boris one day, he took me to the mansion so we could play with the twins. They took us to their rooms where the three of them started playing video games. I had only been here a few times over the weeks I had been here, I was trying to evade meeting Blood, I remembered Nightmare's warning about Blood's anger and jealousy. I went back to watching the game. I quickly got bored of this and started walking along the corridors, where Elliot found me. His blonde hair and clothes were in a disarray and the stack of papers he was carrying looked like it was about to tip over.

"Hey Ave, I didn't know you were here", he said, balancing the stack of papers in his hands. I walked over to him and held out my hands.

"I think you need some help", I told him, gesturing to put some papers in my hands. He shook his head.

"No I'm alright, besides it's rude for a guest to do work", he said, pulling the papers farther from me. I sighed.

"Elliot, you can let me help you, or you're going to make me pull your ears", I said, putting my hands up claw-like. He shuddered and gave me half of the papers. It was heavy but I could handle it.

"Fine, but only because I want to hear in the future", he said, walking to the right and waiting for me to follow.

We came to a room, I faintly remembered as the room Elliot had taken me to when the twins had cut my neck. We walked in and I took a better look at it than the other night. There were bookshelves upon bookshelves of books, all of them begging me to read them. Elliot saw me looking as we took the papers to the desk.

"You know, you could stay in here and read until you want to go home", he offered. I nodded.

"Are you sure Blood won't get angry?", I asked uncertain. The last time I had been here, the Hatter had been at work.

"I'm sure, he actually has been wanting to invite you here, he knows you like books like he does", Elliot told me. I felt my heart turn guilty.

"Really?", I asked, my voice small. Elliot looked uneasy and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, but after you didn't come around he thought you were avoiding us, and I guess he forgot about the invitation", Elliot concluded going to the door. I felt myself hit a place even lower. I knew Blood called me very nasty things, but I didn't know he cared a little.

"I'm going to be just down the hall if you need anything, I hope you enjoy the books, if anything check out the fiction section first", Elliot's voice carried into the room from the hall. I went over to the fiction section and found that there were many books about mythical creatures, like vampires and werewolves. I took _Encyclopedia Vampirica_ off the shelf, sat in the corner and began reading.

I had gotten to the story of the fallen angels, when I heard the door open and footsteps went over to the desk. I peeked around the corner of the shelf and saw Blood taking his coat and hat off, then sit down at the desk.

I had no clue whether to turn around and say hello, or to run for my life out of the library. I chose the first, less dramatic choice.

"Hello", I said, my voice rang with confidence. If he was going to insult me, I wanted to leave with my pride.

He looked up in surprise.

"Oh, hello there", he greeted me, going back to reading his paper. Confused, I studied him. He actually looked busy, no mocking or cocky smile was on his face, just determined blue/green eyes on the paper in front of him. After I finished assessing him, I went back to my book.

Every so often though, I would look back around the shelf, just to see he was still there. On the fifth time doing this, I saw the chair empty, yet the hat and coat where still on the hanger. I looked around the room and saw that it was also empty, where the hell had he gone?

"You seem to have lost something", a voice in front of me said. I jumped and faced him. He was standing above me, looking like he had just caught someone doing something unlawful or wrong.

"Yes, I think it was my mind", I muttered, trying to stand up. He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed my gently back down. At my answer, his face turned to an amused look.

"You'll find that all of us here have lost that somewhere along the line", he replied, taking a seat and leaning on the bookcase across from me. I tried getting up again and his eyes flashed angrily. I sat back, a little afraid.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to leave", I said, carefully. He chuckled.

"Yes, but it seems that I don't want you to leave". I shook my head and opened my book back up in an attempt to ignore him. He shook his head.

"You know, it's not very polite to ignore your host, that's two strikes my dear", he said, putting up two fingers. I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Two strikes?", I said. He nodded his head in a bobbing fashion.

"One for when you eavesdropped on our private conversation, and now this", he scolded me, "One more mess up and I'll have to punish you, not that I don't want to now". My face got bright red at that.

"I thought I told you that doesn't count since you were talking very rudely about me, so if anything that was a truce", I countered him. His face turned thoughtful.

"Fine, that was a truce, but you still insulted me in front of my men", he argued, "Which means, if I wasn't being fair right now, I could kill you if I wanted to", he said gleefully. My face turned to shock, kill me? I knew the Hatter didn't like me, but kill me? I was still reeling from the idea, when he asked a new and even more offensive topic.

"So, I hear you and the clockmaker are sharing beds", he said, I could hear the jealousy in his voice and that stopped me from retaliating. Instead I played on it.

"Yes, but I guess it would be better than someone I didn't like", I said, my eyes pointing daggers at him. He took it in with uncaring eyes, yet I could see past their exterior.

"And the Knight of Hearts I hear got a kiss from you, plus the twins got both, and then there's Elliot, you have him wrapped around your little fingers", he said, putting a finger to his lips in thought, "From all that I think I have a right to call you offensive things, it sounds like you've earned them, you little temptress". I calmed myself by deep breathing.

"Or maybe, I should get my share of you", Blood finished, leaning in towards me, his eyes heavy with something I didn't want to read. I looked at him with a scared feeling settling in me. Here I was with a mafia boss, who was talking about seducing me, in a library that was probably soundproof, if the mafia movies I saw were correct. The whole scenario cried danger.

I back as far into the bookcase as I could, as Blood crawled closer to me, he put a hand next to my waist and put a hand up to my face. As he put his head close to mine, our lips a little distance from touching each other, he put his hand behind my head, curling it into my hair and pulled me closer, and that broke me of the little trance I was in from fear. I brought my hand up and slapped it across his face. His face snapped the side, and his hand that had been at my side flew up to his cheek.

I waited in fear for him to react, he was blocking my exit, which means now I had to face an angry Blood. His head slowly turned to mine, I saw fury etched into his features, so much it made me flinch. He grabbed me by the throat. The action was so sudden it made me yelp in surprise.

"That's three strikes, one to many on your part, my little lovely love", he whispered, pushing on my windpipe, making my head and neck press into the bookshelf behind me. I tried to kick and wriggle, but he laid himself on me so his stomach was holding me down and his knees were against mine, preventing me from moving. My hands were on his arm, trying to pull it away from my neck.

"You know, it isn't very nice to lead someone on and then cut clean away", he was muttering, slowly, so I could hear it, "You seemed like a very interesting person, someone I wanted to know and be around. Unfortunately you seem to be more of a nuisance than a amusement". My mouth was making silent pleas, pleas he wouldn't even consider.

My lungs were burning for air, I was gasping but his hand was blocking it. I looked up at him and he had what looked like triumph in his eyes.

"And then of course, I always wanted to kill an outsider, end the person that everyone loved so much", I couldn't believe what I was hearing, this guy was completely mad, "I can't wait to see what everyone does when they hear of your death", he said excitedly, his eyes were practically glowing. I could feel myself loosing it. My brain and body ached for the thing that was being blocked by what felt like a bear-trap. I could feel my grip on his arm slip and my head leaned forward. He was still putting all of his weight on my throat.

As much as I fought it, I lost, the darkness that had been building on the sides of my eyesight, finally took over completely. The last thing I saw was Blood's face turn to a look of sadness, before my eyelids closed.

Blood's POV

It felt great, throttling her. The feeling of having another person's life in your hands was something I could never get tired of. And in my hands was the perfect prey. I grinned as she continued to sputter.

Such a little whore she was, she needed to be choked. And yet maybe it wasn't her fault. I could feel my anger slip at this thought, as well as my grin.

"Maybe they did the same thing you're doing right now", a little voice in the back of my head suggested. All of a sudden her futile struggles stopped. I looked down and saw that her eyes had glazed over and closed. She looked so innocent, I could believe she would never do anything like what she had done.

"Maybe it wasn't your fault", I mumbled out loud. I loosened my grip and she began breathing, though she was still out cold. I felt my anger leave entirely as I gazed at her small, lovely face. Such a precious thing doesn't deserve to die like this. My hands were still on her throat and I was surprised to find I felt something, a thumping. Almost like a throbbing. It grabbed my curiosity and attention.

"It's her heart", I thought. I kept my hands on her neck as I put my head down on her chest. Yes, it was her heart, both of them were thumping at the same time. It was weird, I lifted a hand to my own throat, only to be disappointed when I felt nothing. My clock only ticked in my chest, not anywhere else.

Yet she had it everywhere, I felt her wrists, it was there too. I felt her back and it was there. This only heightened the feeling that I had something unique in my grasp. The more reason not to kill her.

I put my head back on her chest and listened to the thing that made the throbbing throughout her body. It was actually pretty calming.

"So this is what why everyone liked her", I thought. Now that I remembered correctly and my anger wasn't controlling what I did, I saw that she was actually a calming person. Always stopping fights, making people freeze in their tracks and think. Just like now with me. I realized that I no longer wanted to kill her.

Instead, I wanted to make her stay with me and let me protect her. Which was odd, seeing as I just wanted tried to kill her. I felt melancholy at this. Even if I could get her to forgive me, she probably would want to stay with one of her other suitors. The jealousy inside me flared at this.

"Unless, you're the only one", the small voice suggested. I smiled, yes Ave would be sad at this, but if I was doing it for her, well she couldn't really complain.

I wrapped my arms around her and buried my head into her neck, taking in her scent, which was a sweet, vanilla smell. Then I stopped and got up.

"Time to work", I whispered. I went over and got my hat and coat. After I put these on, I went back over and kneeled next to her. I took in her appearance, her dark hair shining like a halo of darkness, her pale skin like a pure ray of sunshine, and though I couldn't see them, I knew her eyes were like a jungle, a mixture of green and gold. I lifted her head and planted a teasing kiss on her lips, a kiss I know she wouldn't feel, but I could.

I walked out and almost ran into Elliot.

"Oh, hey Blood, you going somewhere?", he asked. I looked at him, of course he was one of Ave's suitors, but I guess I could leave him till last.

"I have a little problem with the clockmaker to deal with", I said, turning and leaving him looking at me confused.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys, i was just wondering if I got Blood's character down. i had a feeling that I was making him a little like peter white or like ace. if you think i did, or didn't please tell me. anyway enjoy!**

Ave's POV

As I woke up, I took in the fact that my throat was killing me and I had a massive headache. Then I remembered Blood choking me.

I sat up fast at the memory. I looked around and saw a empty library, no one trying to kill me. I raised a hand to my neck and rubbed it. It stung a little at touching it.

"Huh, that's weird, you'd think a mafia boss would know how to kill someone", I thought to myself. I stood up and walked a little wobbly to the door. I was trying to find someone, hopefully it was Elliot, he would know what to do about Blood. I opened the door and looked down the hall both ways, I still didn't know where the Hatter had gone. I walked down the hall until I came to an open door. I saw a pair of ears above another bookcase.

"E-Elliot?", I said, my voice was a little shaky. He came around the shelf and looked me up and down. I realized my clothes were wrinkled and the bow in my hair was down to my ears.

"Hey Ave, you okay?", he asked, coming closer still inspecting me. I shook my head sadly.

"No, you're not going to believe this", I said, rethinking that statement, I saw that maybe Elliot knew that Blood was going to attempt to murder me. I shrunk away from his hand, which was reaching out to me. He saw my action and looked at me surprised. Then he realized why I would back away like that.

"I'm not going to hurt you, just tell me what happened", he said cautiously, like I was a deer waiting to flee. I sighed and lifted my head, so he could see my neck. Though I hadn't seen it, I knew there were bruises by the feeling. I heard an intake of breath, I looked down and saw a pissed off Elliot.

"When I find the bastard that did that. . .",he was at a loss for words. I was laughing inside, a sick thing to do in this situation, but I had to.

"I doubt you going to do anything", I put in quietly. He looked at me, clearly wanting a explanation.

"Blood did it", I said simply. Elliot was in disbelief. He kept opening and shutting his mouth.

"Are you sure it was him?", he asked. I nodded.

"Do you know where he is?", I asked. Elliot nodded and said, "He went to the Tower".

My stomach dropped to the floor. The Tower?

"Ah SHIT!", I cursed. Elliot looked at me in surprise. I wanted to shake him and wait for him to come to the realization I had just had, but that would take too much time.

"Don't you get it? He's gonna do something horrible to Julius", I yelled at him. He flinched but didn't do anything else. Instead he took a deep breath and asked me a question that should have been listed in the book of idiocy

"And why would you think that?". I calm myself, though the urgency of running to the Tower was starting to get to me.

"Think about it Elliot. When was the last time Blood had to go to the Tower on his own, and then him doing this to me. Don't you think the two are connected?", I answered, my voice a deadly calm. Elliot thought about my words, then he slowly nodded, agreeing with them. Finally he took on the urgency that I had.

"Alright, we're gonna have to be fast if we want to do anything about it", Elliot said. He grabbed my hand and both of us raced to the gate and into the forest.

Julius's POV

I had just finished attaching the clock hands to the axle when a knock interrupted my work. It seemed like I was going to be up all night.

"Come in", I grumbled. Probably another customer, I thought. I was wrong, in walked Blood Dupre. My eyes widened, this was the first time he was here, besides when he was replaced.

"Hello clockmaster", he said lithely, "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I have a problem that simply, must be dealt with", he said, making long strides across the room. He stopped in front of my chair that was now holding a box of clocks that were ready to be fixed. He took his cane and bumped them off the chair. They hit the ground with a crash, I stood there with shock. Was he mad? All of those clocks could be broken, irreplaceable, right now. Impossible for me to fix. This caused fury to pulse through me, what the hell was he doing here anyway.

"Y-you bastard", I mumbled out angrily. He waved the insult as if it were a pesky fly.

"Yes, yes you and your precious clocks, I have been told how much you love them", he said, leaning back against the chair. He took his hat of and put it on the table. I could have been twitching and I wouldn't have noticed. I wanted this to be over as soon as possible, so I could see how badly the broken clocks were. He had no clue that they held the life of our world.

"Get to the bottom of this visit, before I lose my temper", I vented, my hands in fists around the screwdrivers I had used.

"Really, you really want me to do get to the end so quickly?", he asked, his eyes wide with innocence. I got uneasy at this, whatever he wanted to discuss would probably be something I'd rather not hear. But I still had to hear it.

"Yes, please get to the end", I growled.

He stood up and pulled out a machine gun. White and black, with a single rose on it and a red band around the muzzle, the weapon was definitely stylish. I looked at it warily, he couldn't possibly be serious.

"I have been hearing stories about Ave and you sleeping together, unfortunately that makes me very jealous, and you know how I can be when I'm jealous", he said, firing a line of bullets. I dodged them and switched a screwdriver into a pistol. He was completely mad, but if I could keep him talking, I could come up with some sort of a plan.

"Haha, to think of the mafia boss becoming infatuated with a simple girl", I mocked him. He frowned and put his finger back on the trigger.

"Don't look so surprised about it, you've seemed to have fallen for her too", he said, "But I'm here to cure you, since she seems to like you the most of us all, you'll have to be the first to go", he pulled the trigger and I dodged the bullets again, only this time I fired a few of my own. He dodged these. I had to get him distracted, even if it meant making up the biggest lie of the century.

"What makes you think I even like her?", I asked, making my face look like it was confused. On the inside I was praying Ave never even heard that I had said that. Blood looked at me in shock, which quickly turned to fury.

"Which means my humble enemy, that you were just playing with her. That I take as something very heinous-", we were both interrupted as the door flew open. Blood spun around and fired bullets before he even saw who it was.

Ave's POV As the Tower came into view I ran even faster. Elliot was right next to me, matching my small quick steps with his long graceful strides.

I got to the door, swung it open and we were greeted with a round of gunfire from upstairs, I started running upstairs, but got tackled by Elliot.

"What the hell are you doing?", I yelled at him. The firing upstairs was still going on and it was very loud.

"Wait until it calms down, I'm not letting you get shot by a stray bullet", he yelled. I shook my head, if it calmed down, it probably meant someone was dead, or had been shot. I wriggled free of Elliot's grasp and ran up the stairs. I crashed open the door. The scene in front of me was utter chaos.

Blood had a machine gun pointed at Julius, who had a pistol pointed at Blood. The room was in shambles from the bullets that were still being fired.

Both of them were effected by the crash from the door. Julius stopped, but Blood spun around and fired at me before I could even shout.


	14. Chapter 14

I felt two of them go into me. One above in my collar-bone, the other in my chest somewhere. I stood there dumbfounded, until the pain sunk in. I looked down and saw my blood rushing out like two rivers.

Sinking to my knees, I curled around my wounds in an attempt to stop the pain. Of course it just intensified it. I felt two hands pull me over onto my back. I opened my eyes and Julius was above me.

"Ave! Stay with me, you've got to stay awake, I'm going to get the doctor and Elliot's going to stop the bleeding, but you have to stay conscious till the doctor's here", he ordered me. I nodded weakly. He put pieces of cloth on the wounds, then he stood up and rushed out of the room.

Slowly the pain went from a searing to more of a throbbing, my hands were covering the wounds, but I felt blood still rushing out of them. A figure was walking over and stopped when they were right over me. I looked up and saw Blood.

Blood's POV

I felt the gun I had just been wielding slip from my grasp. Julius ran past me shouting how stupid I was, but I barely heard the words. I felt shock and despair at what I had just done.

She fell and the clockmaker caught her and put her on her back. He pulled out a couple of cloths and put them on her wounds. Elliot had rushed in behind her, Julius ordered him to get the first aid kit that was in another part of the Tower. He ran out of the room, and the clockmaker along with him in haste. Now it was just her and I.

I walked over to her and looked at the fallen angel I had shot. I knelt down and tried to put a hand on her face, but she flinched and pulled away, even when she was this injured.

"What now, are you going to finish the job, since you didn't these last two times?", she asked shakily, her words harsh, yet the expression on her face was more painful for me. It was contorted with pain, pain that I had caused. I lifted her with gentleness and put her in my lap so I was cradling her head. She struggled, but when she saw what I was doing, she looked up at me in surprise.

"I'm not going to kill you, I was just very angry last time. . .", I told her, my voice laced with guilt. I was going to apologize but my pride was getting in the way of it. I had never apologized to anything, especially for almost killing something. I swallowed my pride.

"I'm so sorry Ave", I choked out. And I was, I felt my clock almost slow at the thought of Ave dying.

Ave's POV

I nearly sat up when I heard that. There's no way he was sorry, he nearly choked me. Yet, here he was holding me and apologizing. The aching was starting to block my mind again, but I was able to process this. He was actually, really, legitly, sorry.

I reached up and caressed his cheek, he nuzzled into my touch.

"Tell you what, if I make through this I forgive you", I whispered. He looked at me and chuckled. My eyesight started to waver and I leaned into his arms. He began shaking me.

"Ave! Ave, don't go to sleep! Stay awake!", he was starting to get frantic. My eyes started to close, the darkness was numb, compared to the painful brightness.

"But it hurts, and the night feels like a relief", I mumbled into his chest senselessly. I was suddenly on the ground and someone was putting their fingers to my throat.

"Damn it! Her pulse is almost gone", then I was gone.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, one time I woke up as they were putting me into the ambulance. Julius and Blood were both next to me in there. Both of them were covered in my blood. Both were in a state of panic and looking at me desperately. They both saw my eyes open and they started speaking rapidly. The paramedics attempted to calm them, but it had no effect. One of the medics came over to me before they lifted me and stuck a needle in my arm. I guess it was a sedative because I automatically fell asleep.

The next time I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with my head on someone's shoulder. I looked around and saw that just about everyone was around me. Elliot, the twins, Boris, Blood, Julius, Ace, Peter, and even Vivaldi. Though she was sitting in a royal queen chair in the middle of the room. All of them were sleeping.

"Wait a minute", I thought, then who was I sleeping on.

"Nice to see you've waken up, and the person you're sleeping on, happens to be me", I looked up and saw Nightmare in human form, not in my dreams, what the fuck. He frowned.

"You know, a young lady like you shouldn't be using those words", he taunted me. I looked up at him annoyed and curled back in into his side and putting my head back on his chest. I could care less right now about the consequences, I just wanted to go back asleep.

"Yeah, well I just got shot, I think I'm allowed to use whatever language I want to", I countered him.

"Actually you didn't JUST get shot, that happened like a week ago", he said, thoughtfully. That I sat up to and was given a sharp sting of pain right across my chest. I fell back, and he put his arms over me to make sure I didn't try it again.

"A w-week?", I wheezed out. He nodded.

"Yep you've been out of it for a week, by the way did you know you sleep talk? We've had a few chuckles at what you've said", he said, innocently. I looked at him horrified. Yes, I know I sleep-talk, what the hell have I said? He tutted, of course he could still read my mind.

"You really have to stop talking like that. And nothing, just some nonsense things, though once you whispered "I love", believe me we were all on edge at that, but you just turned over and slept some more", he said, now looking at me with a question in his eyes. I was afraid I already knew the question. He nodded and went ahead.

"Who do you love Ave?", he whispered, like we were in school and passing notes. I shook my head.

"You'll have to read my mind for this one", I said, looking around the room. He rejected the idea.

"No, I want you to tell me out loud" , he argued.

"Can you at least read my mind as I tell you", I asked, exasperatedly. He nodded. I took a deep breath and looked around again.

"I really don't know who I love, I mean I have friendship", I looked at the twins, Peter, and Vivaldi, "I have really close friends, who I'm a little afraid might take things too far", I looked at Boris, Ace, and Elliot, "and then I have the closest, most protective, and most lovely people I could ever hope to find", I looked at Blood and Julius. Both of them, to my relief, were out of their blood-soaked clothes, and in fresh, new ones. I looked up at Nightmare, and saw him contemplating my words. After a while he spoke.

"I have to ask a very selfish question, where do I fit in?", he asked, in his voice I could hear a little fear. I thought about my past experiences with him, and I smiled.

"Okay, you can't read my mind when I say the next couple of words, that's no fair to me", I ordered. He nodded.

"I think you're a bit of a oddball, but I like you in a different way than the others", I said slowly. The words didn't make sense to me, but they must have to him, because his face lit up.

And then it fell and he leaned over and his eyes bulged. He looked like he was about to puke. As much as it pained me, I reached below the bed and pulled out a bucket. He grabbed it and I looked away. After he was finished I looked back and saw the bucket was filled with blood.

"Oh my god, are you okay?", I asked him, he had a smile on his face.

"Yes, I'm fine, I was just happy. I forgot to tell you I'm a sickly dream demon", he explained. I showed my confusion through my thoughts, and he opened his mouth to explain more.

"No, no", I waved my hands stop him, "I don't want to know, I'd rather be clueless", I said, I put the bucket on the floor and laid back into the bed. He sighed and I closed my eyes, I could hear his clock ticking.

"Oh yes, before you fall asleep. As much as I detest the idea, the others were wondering if they could take turns sleeping next to you?", he asked, right as I was about to fall asleep. I opened my eyes.

"How did they find out?", I asked him. He looked sheepish.

"Okay it was me and the clockmaker that told them, actually he told them, I just explained it, but please don't be mad. They wouldn't let me near you if I didn't tell them, not that I want to be here, to tell you the truth hospitals creep me out. But you were worth it", he said, playing on my flattered side. I let it go.

"It's fine, they would have found out anyway", I said, "And it's a yes, just make sure they don't fight". He nodded and pulled me close so I was laying on him. I listened to him breathing and I went out.


	15. Chapter 15

I got out of the hospital a few days later. Despite never using the medicine due to replacements, all of the liquids the doctors pumped into me made me super-heal. I asked them about this on one of their rounds.

"Usually, the patients we have want to get out as soon as possible, so we came up with a few concoctions that speeds up the healing process", they explained. Apparently I had enough drugs in me to kill a bull elephant, that is if they weren't controlled.

The two holes in my chest vanished, and soon I was able to be moved from the hospital and to the Tower. My visitors moved with me, I always had someone near me. I had started to curse Julius and Nightmare for telling everyone about my secret. Though one person always seemed to keep his distance when he visited- Blood. He always sat in the corner and watched Elliot and the twins shower me with care. I was waiting for him to come alone to say that I forgave him, but he always came with the other three. I tried to get him into the conversations, but he just nodded until I finally gave up.

The next day after being moved, I got an invitation to a ball, being held by Vivaldi on my behalf. My eyes must have looked like ping pong balls while I was reading it. Everyone else got one, I guess it was a all guest type thing. The date was in three days and I

"Is it like a party or what?", I asked Julius, I had never been to a ball., or even a school dance.

"Hmm", he looked up from a clock, "Yes, only a little more regal". I looked back at the letter, the engraved letters glimmering. A thought struck me.

"Do you think we have to dress up for this?", I asked, I had no clue where I was going to get a dress.

Julius nodded, "Like I said, it's a party just more regal". I stood up, something I had just begun doing again, and was happy to find I didn't have a sharp pain in my chest. Julius looked up alarmed, ready to catch me if I started to sway. I waved him down.

"I think I'm alright, maybe even to go down to the market", I hinted, looking for his approval. He sighed.

"I suppose I can't stop you, but really be careful not to strain yourself", he said. I smiled and started down the stairs. Looking through the kitchen I made a list of all the things I had to get.

The walk there was enough to start the pains again, but after a few breaks I was proudly walking on the cobblestones of the Heart village. Heading for the food shops, I did the mistake of looking in the dress shop's windows. In the front window was the most perfect dress there could be.

As black as death, the fabric fell to the floor in dark tendrils. The fabric making the top of it was a clingy silken material, while the bottom blossomed out in thousands of wisps, almost like feathers. The sleeves and bodice were trimmed in silver wisps. The dress was long enough to qualify as a ball gown, though theatric enough to make it look masqueradeish. I walked into the store and around to look at the back of it, and I stared at it surprised.

The back was almost as beautiful as the front. On the back were two angel wings. They were made out of the same feathery material, only longer and silver. The wings started at the shoulders and went down to midthigh.

"Excuse me miss, I see you're interested in this gown", the face-less shop owner had come up behind me. I turned around sheepishly. There was now way I had enough to buy this, yet here I was caught staring at it. My face turned red and I started over to the door.

"Yes, but unfortunately I have to leave now", I tried to go around him. He stopped me and went over to the dress. To my surprise, he took it down.

"I think you would be beautiful in this", he brought it over. I backed away putting up my hands to stop him.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way I can pay for that", I rushed. He held up his own hand, I stopped talking. He pushed the dress into my arms.

"The only pay I need is for you to dance in my creation", he told me. I stood there stunned.

"Y-you made this?", I stuttered. He nodded.

"Yes I did, and I want you to have it, I heard that there was a masquerade ball to be held soon", he stated, "And I would like it if you were to go to it in this". I looked down at the dress. It was so beautiful, I found myself nodding.

"Alright, I'll go in it", I agreed. The face-less man smiled. He went back over to the stand that held the dress and pulled out a box.

"Then you'll be needing this, after all what's a masquerade without a mask?", he handed it to me. I thanked him profusely. He waved it off.

"You shouldn't be the one thanking me, it should be that boy who will be dancing with you", he muttered as I walked out. I got the rest of my supplies, and started back to the Tower. I was hoping to keep the dress a secret, it would be a great surprise at the ball.

The rest of the two days went fast. I had opened the box and found a wooden mask. Painted black to match the dress, it was carved to wrap around my face, even around my ears, and right on the tip of the two wooden ears were two silver feathers. I had no clue what bird they came from, but they were definitely beautiful.

On the night of the dance, I walked down and saw Julius actually standing down there waiting for me. He was already dressed in a dark blue suit with his usual clock/tie on, and where usually just a few strands of his hair were pulled back, now all of it was. On his face was a mask in the shape of some type of cat, the bottom of his face and his eyes looked like he was bored. He looked almost regal in all of this.

"Um Julius?", I squeaked. He looked up and peered up the stairs.

"Yes Ave, are you alright?", he was looking at my legs to see if I was wobbling. I shook my head, all thoughts of going to the dance alone were flying away from my head. I blushed as a new idea popped into my head.

"Yeah, uh I was wondering if you would escort me to the dance?", I mumbled out. He had to lean in to hear the words and when he did, he blushed himself. Then he chuckled.

"Well you didn't think I was waiting down here for Ace or someone did you?", he teased. I blushed again and shook my head no.

"Alright then, get ready we're supposed to be there at six' o'clock", he told me, opening a pocket watch. Giggling at this I went back up and began the troublesome task of putting the damned dress on.

True it was beautiful, but the buttons in the back were difficult. Finally just holding it up, putting my shoes and mask on, I carefully climbed down the steps. When I reached the bottom Julius turned around and did the most surprising thing I thought he would do. I heard an intake of breath, and he actually smiled. Not a half smile or a smirk, but a full-blown smile.

"Well you look beautiful", he complimented me. I blushed.

"I would probably look better if the thing was on properly", I broke the moment by turning around and gestured to the hold in my back. I heard him come behind me and start buttoning me up.

"You know, you could have just asked one of the maids to help you", he informed me. It seemed like I was going to look like a tomato tonight, because I blushed again. I turned and apologized flustered.

He put up a hand, "It's alright, now lets go and get this over with", and just when I thought Julius was going to lighten up tonight, he was back to the dark side again. Going out the door and walking through the forest to the castle, I looked up and saw the stars, and a full moon. I let my guard down and let myself enjoy the scenery.

Getting to the castle we stopped right outside of the giant doors. Lacing his arm in mine, Julius opened the door and we were greeted with a magnificent sight. It seemed like everything was light up, there were lights wrapping around everything. Giant vases filled with what seemed like bushes of roses were placed everywhere. The music I could here from the band playing was classical music. It seemed like a fairy tale. All of the guest were in masks of different kinds, most of them though were in the traditional half human face.

And right in the middle of everything on her throne was Vivaldi with the king. She saw me and beckoned me forward. I glanced at Julius and he seemed to have a passive look on as always. He also saw the queen waving at me. Unlacing his arm he smiled at me, "Go have fun, I'll see you back at the Tower". I looked as he went over to some faceless lords and began chatting carelessly with them.

I sighed and made my way over to the royal couple. Vivaldi had a beautiful scarlet ball gown on, with a custom made heart mask over her face. Upon arriving the queen jumped from her seat and enveloped me into a hug.

"Oh we are so glad to see you Ave!", she gushed, "You look like a angel with that dress, dare we say, you might win the kiss at midnight", she giggled. I smiled before the words sunk in.

"It's nice to see you too, this is absolutely magical", I gestured to the whole thing. She looked pleased at my compliment.

"Yes well, it's all for you, we were so happy that you recovered, we couldn't wait for a chance to celebrate", she smiled warmly at me. I felt that spoiled feeling coming over me again, all of this was for me?

Then I got back to the original question that was eating at me.

"What's the midnight kiss?", I asked her, looking away from the couples on the dance floor.

"At midnight, we pick the couple that look the best and they have to kiss, and then they lift their mask to see who it is", she explained. Looking me up and down, she turned back to the dancing.

"And from looking at the other woman, ourselves included, it seems that you are the best looking so far", she smiled again at me.

**Ohhh, who's she gonna kiss! I actually have no clue, I'm making this up as I go along, but enjoy and review please. Ps I absolutely love her dress, I actually saw it in a magazine somewhere, I kick myself for not grabbing the picture.**


	16. Chapter 16

Slowly more and more guests filed into the ballroom. Ace and Peter arrived from somewhere in the castle. At the sight of me, both were open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Until I thumped them on the head. Vivaldi giggled at me for the display and looked at me questioningly.

I shrugged, "If I had to pick between them ogling my body, or having them in minor pain, I'd pick the latter, wouldn't you?". She nodded approvingly.

I looked back at the two that were clutching their heads, and got a good look at their suits. Ace's suit was red and he had a black mask on, one that reminded me of Zorro. Peter on the other hand, had a pure white suit on, with a very creepy rabbit mask on, one that could scare small children. Both pulled their masks on.

"Oww Ave, no need to hit that hard, besides it's your fault for wearing the dress", Ace complained, sticking his tongue out at me, I rolled my eyes. Peter on the other hand was tearing up, over my stay in the hospital, the white rabbit had started getting very protective of me.

"Ohh my Ave doesn't love me", he wailed, if a grown rabbit man could wail. I gave him a one eyebrow raised look, my Ave?

"Last time I checked, I wasn't YOUR Ave, and I do love you, just in a friend way", I told him. His white ears flattened, but he remained silent.

"So how are you doing since you got out of the hospital?", Ace asked. We stood there conversing, till two little people came bolting out of the crowd and attached themselves to my midsection. They were the twins, Dee was wearing a blue tie, while Dum was wearing a red one.

"Onee-san, we're so happy your better now", Dee told me happily. Dum nodded.

"Yeah, now you can come back to the mansion and play with us", they said in unison. I laughed at how joyful they were. But in the back of my mind, I was looking for a certain person with a hat on.

"Alice-san, do you think we could win the Kiss at Midnight?", they asked. Peter and Ace stiffened at the question and walked away. I looked at them uneasily, I really didn't know if two kids could.

"I don't know you two, there are a lot of guys here, do you think you're that handsome", I asked teasingly. They smirked at each other evilly, before turning back to me.

"Yes we do", they said confidently, before a yellow light erupted around them. I jumped back along with everyone else. I looked at the twins and saw two grown twin men. The twins could change into men? I backed even further away. They smirked at my movements.

"Aww, onee-san, don't you like us in our adult forms?", I think Dee asked, he had the blue tie. Both of them came closer until their faces were inches away from mine, I was trembling and still in shock.

"We have a new game we want to play Alice", Dee murmured.

"Do you want to play a love game?", Dum asked, both of them leaning even closer. I turned my head and heard two thumps. I looked back and both of the twins were a few feet away, holding their heads. Elliot was behind them with a smug look on.

"You two are more troublesome than I can ever imagine, just what do you think you were doing?", he demanded. Even though the twins were adults, Elliot was still taller and had more strength.

"Oww, stupid chicky hare, we wanted to have fun with Alice-san", they mumbled innocently. Elliot rolled his eyes. He was wearing a black suit with a golden tie, his mask was a gold half face.

"Oh yeah, did you ever think Ave wouldn't find that exactly fun?", he questioned them. They shrugged it off and walked away.

"Thanks Elliot", I was still watching the two's retreating backs, after this encounter, they were a little scary to think about.

"It was nothing, you should know though, both of them are just kids at heart, I doubt they would have done anything serious", he said with a frown.

"Still thanks", I looked back at the dance floor to see if anyone else I knew was here. I could feel Elliot fidgeting next to me.

"Hey Ave, do you want to dance", Elliot asked me nervously, a hand going through his hair. I smiled at him.

"I'd love to", I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me onto the dance floor. On the way there I pulled off my heels and put them in one of the rose filled vases. I was lucky I hadn't broken an ankle already in the death traps. Elliot gave a nervous chuckle at this, I had a feeling he was afraid about stepping on my feet.

The dance style was a basic ballroom, after twirling around a bit, I got it down. Elliot seemed to know exactly which place his feet went and which way to spin me. Without my heels on, I got the feeling that I was floating, the whole crowd was like a living thing, everyone synchronized perfectly.

Finally after a final spin, the last note of the song drifted off and I smiled. Elliot pulled me back to the spot where we were, I caught a look at his face and I saw that he had a smile on too.

"That was fun", I stated. He looked back at me and grinned even wider.

"Hmm, I thought it was way more than just fun", he gave his opinion. Beneath his mask he was almost glowing. We got back to the rose vases and we were greeted by two very familiar people. Gowland and Boris were standing around. Boris had cleaned up and was wearing a purple suit with a black tie, his mask was a purple cat with a white smile( think disneys chesire cat in mask form). Gowland was wearing a brown suit with a yellow tie, he hadn't bothered to wear a mask. Right now Gowland was trying to go over and play his violin with the band, Boris was trying to stop him.

"You can't old man, for the sake of the party!", Boris tried to grab the dreaded instrument. I broke it up.

"Hey guys", I greeted them with the wave. They both stopped and greeted me back. Elliot was slowly edging away.

"Um Ave, I think I should be going, I'll see you before the night ends though", I said goodbye and he walked away. I turned back to the other two, and I was grabbed around the waist by Boris. He began pulling me back onto the dance floor. I protested, still being dizzy from my last dance.

"Boris, please can't we wait for the next song?", I pleaded with him. He shook his head.

"Aww, why not, you got to dance with the mafia hare, at least let me dance with you before all the other guys ask you", he was grinning underneath his mask, the big grin on it was starting to creep me out. I gave up and let him bring me to the floor. The song started and it was a waltz. I pushed on Boris's chest, if I was going to dance, there was no way it was going to be a waltz.

He paid no attention to my shoves and just held me to him as we moved in. Unless I wanted to hit one of the other couples, I had to keep in line with him. After a while I finally stopped and just flowed with him. Then once again the song ended with me going down gracefully into Boris's arms. He pulled me back up with a triumphant smirk on.

"Now was that so bad?", he asked me cockily, I just ignored it. He brought me back and the rest of the evening went the same. I danced with just about everyone, Gowland, Peter (who was over the moon about it), Ace (who kept pressing me against him to hear my heartbeat, my hand was itching to collide with his face, but I held it in), the two twins came back in their original form and I danced with them, though it was hard to do it with three people. Nightmare showed up and I got to dance a slow creeping dance with him.

After all of them, I went to the refreshment stand and swallowed a gallon of the water they had with grace, all of those dances were starting to bring back the pain in my chest. Resting, the pain slowly dulled away. As I watched the rest of them, I felt a sense of peace come over me. I was really having fun here, and everyone else seemed to be having a great time too.

"Hmm, it seems as though you don't have another partner yet", a silky voice said behind me. I knew it's owner and I turned around slowly.

Blood was behind me, wearing a very sly smile on his face at finding me alone. I looked him over and found that he was wearing a deep black suit, a red dress shirt underneath, and a blood-red bow. In his coat pocket was single live rose. On his face was a black mask, covering his upperface and nose, I could barely see his blue/green eyes. He didn't have his hat on, if it wasn't for his voice or smirk, I wouldn't even know it was him, he looked like a handsome demon.

I gave him a casual smirk, "Hello Blood". He looked me over as I had done to him and he smiled.

"You look positively ravishing as an angel", he complimented me. I blushed. All of a sudden he looked a little nervous, something I rarely saw. I saw him tumbling something around in his head, as his eyes became troubled. I decided to take the first step, since he was obviously having problems.

"Do you want to dance?", I asked him, gesturing to the swaying crowd. He looked at me surprised, then relief crossed his face. He nodded and took my hand. Almost like touching a torch, I felt a shock of fire at touching his skin.

Along the walk to the dance floor, I saw him give a weird hand gesture to the band. They nodded and the song ended. We stopped in the middle of everyone as the music started. The couples around us gave us space. I got nervous at this, what exactly was Blood planning.

"B-Blood?-", he cut me off with a smile. Having another mood-swing, he seemed to have gone back to his usual confident self. Putting a hand on my waist, I found myself putting a hand on his shoulder. All of a sudden the music exploded into a fast tempo. Having no clue what to do, I followed Blood's foot steps. He didn't seem to mind, though he kept his gaze on me throughout the dance. Just like when he was holding my hand, I felt fire coming from the hand on my waist. It felt like I was dancing with a blaze, even though I had always thought of Blood as cold. Just like before I felt my chest starting to hurt again, growing even worse as the dance tempo increased.

And just as fast as the music had started, it almost felt like a cutoff. It left me gasping and sweating. The pain had started to throb, but once we stopped, it almost immediately stopped. Blood brought me back to the refreshment table and got me a drink.

"Hmm, you're a better dancer than I would have thought", I told him, once I could breathe. He took the compliment with ease. Then once again the troubled look came back on his face. Then I remembered, it was the same look he had on when he visited me, along with Elliot and the twins.

I smiled at knowing the cause of the problem, "You know Blood, I never did keep my promise", I said quietly. His face changed again when I broke his concentration, and he looked at me uncaringly.

"And what promise would that be?", he sighed. He took his rose out of his pocket and stroked the petals, waiting for my answer. I licked my lips, I wanted to see what he would do.

"I forgive you", I murmured. His head shot up to look at me, a look of disbelief on his face. Then it changed to frustration.

"What did you say", he hissed, I backed up a little, "I said I-", he cut me off.

"I don't want to hear it again", his hands were curled around the rose, "Aren't you the least bit afraid of me?", his face turned to me, anger still on it. I sighed, he was having another mood-swing.

"No I'm not, I know you didn't mean to shoot me, besides didn't I promise if I came out of it alive I would forgive you", I reasoned, relaxing against the table. His face turned dark and he stood up straight.

"Think what you will, but you have to have gone mad to be able to forgive me", he said, his tone cold, "As for me apologizing, I believe I was a little delirious from the adrenaline in the fight", he deadpanned and walked away. I was shaking my head, he was trying to make himself look scary. I would have gone after him, but I had a feeling he needed to calm down.

Relaxing against the table, I let out a content sigh. I'd have to find the others, but for now I had to take a breather.

"Hello there", a man came up to my side. I looked him over, he was in a suit, with a joker hat on. The bells tingled as he walked. On his face was a black renaissance mask, with a beak protruding from it. Bright red eyes stared out of the eyeholes, and I could see red hair sticking out of the hat. I smiled at his comical appearance.

"Hi, who are you?", I asked, interested to see his face. He had a face, which mean't he had to be a role holder.

The man pulled out a whip and chuckled, "My name is Joker, Ave"

**Mwa ha ha, she meets Joker! Lets see how the evening turns out.**


	17. Chapter 17

"_Joker?"_, isn't that the guy who disrupted that Tea Party, I was trying to remember all of the details. At the same time I backed up a little at the sight of his whip.

"Now now, I mean no harm, this is merely a display", he gave the whip a dry snap, before tucking it back in his pocket. Then he took a step toward me with his hand out.

"Would you like to dance?", he asked me, red eyes twinkling dangerously. A sense of forbidding suddenly came over me and I backed even further away.

"As much as I would love to, I'm going to have to decline", I told him confidently. I adjusted my mask and walked away.

Joker's POV

"_That bitch, she danced with every other male role-holder, and she dares to turn us down"_, the Black Joker hissed angrily. White gave the young girl a sneer and let Black take over the situation.

I marched right over to her retreating back and grabbed her hand.

They'd been watching the little foreigner since she came her, waiting for her to stumble into the circus, but those damned role-holders had been keeping her away, well now was our chance to have a little fun with her.

"You might not want to dance, but I do", she began yanking at my hand. I chuckled at this.

"Do you really think you can escape me you little bitch? After all, you gave the others a dance, why not me?", I purred at her, ignoring her struggles. All of a sudden a few shots fired right next to my head.

Frozen, I glanced up at the bullets owners. Blood, Julius, Peter, Boris, Elliot, and Gowland were standing there with their guns raised. The twins and Ace had their axes and sword drawn. I growled at them and held onto Ave even harder. Seeing, this the group tensed even more.

"If you don't want to be reduced to a bloody mass, I suggest you let Ave go", Blood said, his tone deadly calm. I smiled innocently.

"Why? We were just about to dance, isn't that right Ave?", I glanced down at her and she gave me a malicious look.

"No, I told you that I didn't want to dance, you merely took it upon yourself to force me into dancing", she snarled. _"Hmm, she is feisty, just our type of girl, right brother?"_, White asked me. I smiled at the thought.

After her statement, there was nothing I could do but let go of Ave's hand and back away from her. The others lowered the weapons and Boris stepped forward to pull Ave over to them.

"Hmm, after disrupting this party and attacking my Ave, I would get out of here if I were you", Peter advised me. I scoffed at the idea of missing the party and merely walked away from the psychotic group.

"_Look at us calling someone else psychotic, meanwhile we have to people in one mind"_, I rolled my eyes at him chuckling.

"That might be, but at least we're not trailing that girl like puppies", I said aloud.

Vivaldi's POV

"Yes yes, she look nice, but she's no where near as cute as Ave", we told the king. He slumped down.

"Fine, Ave will be the Queen of the night, but we still have to find her King", he mumbled, looking out into the crowd. We also were looking throughout the crowd.

The amusement park cat was just plain stupid with that ridiculous mask, as well as that White, and those twins were simply out of the question. Our dear brother seemed nice enough, but he had one rival. There was another person who looked equally handsome, though his expression now was of boredom.

"We think we have a good choice", I told our King.

Ave's POV

"Are you sure you're alright, he didn't hurt you or anything right?", Boris questioned me. I felt like one of those people who witnessed a murder and had to give details.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I just didn't expect him to be here, I thought he usually kept away from these things", I gestured to the room. The others had gone back to socializing after I drove it into them that I was alright, except Boris and the twins.

"He usually does, but maybe he just wanted to meet you, after all the whole country was alerted of your accident, because of a certain queen", Boris reasoned, looking around bored. I sighed, the night was starting to wind down.

"Attention all of you, we have an announcement to make", Vivaldi's voice rang out from the middle of the room. Everyone turned toward it and stopped talking. Boris grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Vivaldi's voice. We stopped right outside of the circle surrounding the royal pair.

"I would like all of you to put you're masks on, because we have chosen the King and Queen of the night!", everyone cheered and pulled down their masks. Boris pulled his creepy one down and I pulled my feathered one down.

"You ready to kiss me Ave?" Boris teased me, I could see him smiling underneath his mask. I gave him a shove.

"Are you ready to kiss a complete stranger?", I asked him. He shook his head and looked back at Vivaldi, who was scanning the crowd. She suddenly pointed at me.

"There is your queen", she beckoned to me. I was frozen, there was no way I was the queen of the night. Around me everyone was cheering.

"Come one Ave, you have a King to kiss", Boris pushed me towards the impatient Vivaldi. I got my legs to work, and the crowd parted to let me through. I went up onto the raised platform where Vivaldi was and she put a small crown on my head. After arranging it on my head, she turned back to the crowd, scanning it. I looked out to. Everyone was wearing a mask, making it look like the whole crowd was a stranger to me.

"There is your King", Vivaldi pointed into the crowd. I strained to see who it was. The crowd parted and actually being pushed out was a flushing Julius.

**I gave into temptation and made it Julius who Ave's going to kiss. I'm having second thoughts though. Tell me if I made the right choice!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi! Thx to everyone who's reviewing, just to let you know, the song I was thinking of for this chapter was Kissing you by Des'ree, just thought that was important to put! Enjoy**

"There is your King", Vivaldi pointed into the crowd. I strained to see who it was. The crowd parted and actually being pushed out was a flushing Julius.

He was wearing his blue cat mask, and after arguing with the crowd he gave up and climbed the steps up to us. Vivaldi chuckled and placed a crown on his head, and he turned to me with a red face. He looked positively mortified.

"Of all the childish nonsense I've had to put up with, this has to be the most-", he was cut off by the queen. I looked down at my feet, he didn't seemed too thrilled to be picked.

"Count down with us to midnight", Vivaldi called to the crowd and pointed to the giant clock on the wall. I hadn't noticed it before and saw that there were fifty seconds to midnight.

"You know, you don't have to do this", Julius whispered to me. I turned surprised at him, true we were in front of a hundred people, but I thought he would want to get it over with fast as possible.

"You could just cut out now and everyone will accept it", he mumbled. I giggled, he was trying to talk me out of it. I leaned over so I could see his eyes, but the mask was hiding them from me.

"Five, four, three!", the crowd cheered.

"Do you not want to do this?", I asked, he turned his head so I couldn't see any part of his face.

"Two, one, KISS!", the crowd thundered. The clock chimed. Julius still had his head turned, so I put a hand on the side of his face, turned his head, and pulled his mask off. With my other hand I pulled up my mask, put my hands on his chest, and leaned up to him on my tippy toes. I softly put my lips on his and I felt my heart jump at the contact. He took this with surprised, but then I felt a hand on the back of my head, and he pressed his lips to mine harder.

I heard someone cough and I realized that the whole room was silent, I pulled away, but kept a hand on his chest, and he put one around my waist.

"Now that that is over, it is time for one last song", the band began playing and Julius pulled me towards the dance floor, once again the crowd parted to let us through.

"Sorry about this, but it's tradition to let the King and Queen start the last dance", he said as we made our way. I leaned my head closer to him.

"You don't have to apologize, did you ever think that I would enjoy doing this with you?", I asked quietly. He turned his face to mine and saw that I was serious, then he did it again, he smiled. Which in turn made me smile.

The song had a singer with it, her vocals went with band beautifully. Swaying back and forth with a few twirls, I felt happy. Though while I was dancing I saw a few of the role-holders, and they were shooting murderous glances at Julius, though he seemed oblivious to them. I would have to talk to them about them, but for right now I pushed the thought away and concentrated on dancing with Julius, he looked somewhat happy. A few times when we were close during the dance, he had brushed a few stray hairs out of my face.

At the end and when the singers voice finally faded away from existence, we finally came to a stop with me slowly spinning away from my partner. Everyone cheered and Vivaldi announced the end of the evening. Julius stayed by my side as everyone began filing out. All of my previous dance partners came and bid me goodnight. Ace gave me his not so chaste hug, Blood even took one of my hands and kissed it, both twins gave me a kiss on my cheeks and the rest simply said goodnight. Most of then seemed sad and I think I knew exactly why. It made me sad to think I was making them feel this way, but there was nothing I could do.

Finally it was time for me and Julius to leave, we gave our crowns back to Vivaldi, who looked between us and smiled as she bid us farewell.

The walk back to the Tower was silent, though I tried making conversation with Julius, but he just seemed to be in a world of his own. I went up to my room upon arriving, and took off my dress, which proved to be harder than I thought, though after 15 minutes I was successful. I put on my dress and made my way to Julius's room.

I opened the door and he was already in bed, I silently walked over and slipped into the covers. He turned over a little and whispered a goodnight to me which I returned, though mine involved a small hug. At this he turned over, fully face me and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips before turning back over.

I sighed and let myself fall into the darkness of slumber.

**J, Julius got some more fluff, though I wonder how this will go over with the other lovers of Ave, we will see, we will see. Mwa-ha-ha. Also, just realized that I never said that I didn't own Heart no Kuni no Alice. Oh well, in my imaginary world the story doesn't exist, it's reality.**


	19. Chapter 19

I woke up and found the bed empty, Julius must have already gotten up. Going to my room I kept an ear out so I could hear downstairs. Sure enough I heard tiny little tinks of metal hitting metal.

Getting dressed I looked into my sock drawer where I had put the little vial when I had first came here. I hadn't checked on it in a while and I was surprised to find that it was almost full, just a few drops were missing, then again I had been here for around three months, so it was about right. I took it down with me for breakfast.

"Morning", I said brightly, coming down the stairs. Julius looked up from a clock and nodded. I set the vial down on the table. Getting out the coffee grounds and putting them in the pot to brew, I asked the question I had on my mind.

"Um, Julius, I was wondering. . .how exactly do I get home once this thing is full?", I tapped the small vial. He looked up again and sighed.

"I should have known this was going to come up", he sat back and looked at me, "Do you remember when you first got here and Ace told you about interacting with the other people of this world?".

I nodded, I remembered the entire conversation, it felt like it happened a life-time ago though.

"Well the reason why you had to do that, was for you to fall in love with someone of this world. Once you did, it was that person's job to help you get home, that is if you want to go", he stood up and went over to the counter for some coffee, which just stopped brewing. I think I saw a trace of a blush on his face.

"What do you mean IF I want to?", I asked slowly, though I already knew the answer.

"You can stay here, or you can bring you and your lover back to your world with you", he said swiftly, like it was a touchy subject or something. I sighed and stood up.

"Well I'm going to the Amusement Park today, I'll be back", I opened the door and he waved to me that he had heard me.

Julius's Dream Last Night

"Hmm, you know clockmaker, I think you've fallen for our little foreigner here", Nightmare taunted the reddening person in front of him, who gave him a glare. Nightmare gave a chuckle and did a 360 flip in mid-air. Below him, Ave was sleeping peacefully, in a dreamless sleep.

"You don't have to be so morose about it, all of us have fallen for Ave, even that Joker, though his affections are a little more dangerous than others", Nightmare said, like he was talking to nothing but air. Julius sighed, knowing the dream demon would just keeping trying to have a conversation with him.

"Yes, but that's the problem, I don't understand why she doesn't want to live with the other role-holders", Julius sighed, arms crossed, though looking at the small figure on the ground. Nightmare cocked his head and the depressed man in front of him, "Do you mean that you don't want her to live with you anymore? I thought it was making you happy?".

The clockmaster laughed weakly, "As if, you know that I prefer to be alone". Nightmare smirked.

"But Ave might be an exception to that", he flipped upside-down. Julius attempted to deny that, but Nightmare stopped him.

"You forget that I can read minds, your only denying what I said because you'll afraid she'll pick another one of us at the end of the game", the incubus reasoned. Julius fell silent, though his stubborn side was starting to show.

"I wouldn't care if she picked another", he said quietly, the sentence sounded almost childish, which made the demon laugh outloud.

"Oh you wouldn't now, then I doubt you would mind if I did this", he floated down so he was sitting next to Ave's sleeping form. Gently he leaned over and put a hand under her head, and with a amused smile he put a small butterfly kiss on her lips. Julius watched all of this with a surprised look, which quickly turned to murderous, though he tried to silence his thoughts and emotions.

Nightmare set the girl back down and she curled slowly back into a ball.

"You see, you do care for her, which is why that if you don't fight for her, you might lose her", Nightmare smirked again, "Plus, I hate competing with someone who isn't even putting up a good fight". he looked back at Ave with a small smile. Julius shook his head.

"I'll deal with my problems my way, just as ;you deal with yours your way" the world began to shake as the dream world crumbled. Nightmare stayed airborne, while a giant crack went through the floating island. Ave began falling through the crack when a panicked Julius pulled her back onto his half of the island.

"Are you out of your mind, she could have fallen", Julius shouted at the floating person, who chuckled.

"You're very amusing clockmaker, and very forgetful. We're in a dream world, there's no way she can get hurt", he said the last sentence with a duh look on his face. The rest of the island crumbled as Julius fell with Ave in his arms.

"Remember what I said Julius, you might want to start fighting before the battle's already over", Nightmare deadpanned as Julius woke up with the real Ave curled into his chest with his arms over her.

Back to the Present, Where Ave is now at the Amusement Park.

I found Boris at one of the piercing stations at the Park, he was getting another one under the middle triangle on his stomach, making the pattern complete. I went up to him and waved.

"Hey Boris, you finally got them done?", I asked. He nodded with a happy smile on.

"I've been waiting to do this, you want to get one done?", he waved to the many rings on display, I backed away with my hands up.

"Not really, I'm a little afraid of needles", I said with my eyes wide. His smile disappeared.

"Does that mean that your afraid of me because of my piercing?", he looked down at his new one. I smiled.

"Of course not, I don't mind needles if their not going into my skin, it's just when they are that I freak out", I gave him a small hug and we started walking around, going on some rides when all of a sudden I got tackled to the floor. Dee and Dum were once again plastering themselves to me. I gently pried them from me and stood up.

"You know guys, you might want to find a new way to greet me, tackling me to the ground is getting boring", I teased them. They smiled a secret smile. I automatically went on edge.

"Onee-san, boss said to bring you to the mansion, it's a surprise", they whispered to me. I looked at Boris who was listening in on the conversation.

"Sorry guys, but it would be rude to leave Boris here", I shook my head. Though I wanted to see what exactly the surprise that Blood had was. Boris shook his head and started walking to the Park's exit.

"Nah, I'm alright, in fact I'll come along", we hurried to catch up to him.

At the Mansion

"Come on Elliot, those twins will be back with her at any minute", Blood told the flustered hare, annoyed. Elliot was flying around the room, putting up things, the maids were rushing with him.

"Sorry Blood, but you know this was sort of last-minute", Elliot panted, putting the banner up over the bay window. Blood was sitting at the table with a cup of tea, when the chef came in with the cake. Blood gave it a look over and nodded that it was acceptable. Elliot got done with the banner and licked his lips over the cake.

"I hope that they made half of it out of carrot", he muttered happily.

"BOSS, ONEE-SAN IS HERE", the twins voices rang out from the entrance. Both men stood up to wait behind the table with the cake facing the door.

Ave came through the door when everybody shouted, "SURPRISE". She gasped and started blushing as she read what was on the cake.

"HAPPY 100th DAY HERE", the cake read.


	20. Chapter 20

I gasped at the sight of the cake and the room. Someone had put purple banners everywhere and a giant one that had the same message as the one on the cake.

"You guys seriously did this for me, just because I've been here for a hundred days?", I asked, my voice sounding incredulous. They all nodded.

I smiled and gave them a hug, except of course Blood, who told me he didn't do hugs.

"You don't do hugs?", I asked him, questioning his sanity. He shook his head and I shook mine.

"This means that it's my mission to give you a hug", I stepped closer to him and he backed up with a playful expression on his face, which surprised me. His grin went even wider with his next sentence.

"Hmm, I think I'll give you my gift first, but you'll have to catch me", he quick took off his hat and ran out the door gracefully. The others were starring after him with wide-eyes. Elliot turned to me with a open mouth, which he closed.

"I think you might want to go and catch him Ave", and he shook his head and looked back at the door. I shrugged and ran out after Blood.

"I think Ave's made Blood go crazy", I heard Boris say as I went through the door. I ran to the steps and I saw Blood at the bottom. He smirked and started running down the hall. I hurried down the steps and ran after him.

"I thought you'd be faster than this Ave", he called down once when I was at the opposite side of a hall. I laughed. He was pretty fast, but I wasn't even trying.

"How do you know I'm not letting you win", I shouted. He turned his head and smirked at me.

"Then come and get me", he sped up and so did I. We ended up outside and running through the many pathways outside of the mansion. Going through a decorated entrance I stopped in my tracks, I had ended up in a rose garden. A beautiful one, thousands of roses were blooming. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

"Are you forgetting something?", Blood whispered in my ear. I spun and wrapped my arms around him.

"Ha, I got a hug from you", I teased him, leaning away. He still had a playful expression on.

"Yes, and you also get a gift from me too", he pulled something from behind him and brought it around. In his fingers was a rose, drops of water on it's petals, and luscious green leaves surrounding the red flower. I gave a small smile at the gift. He smiled too, taking my hair from behind my ear and tucking the flower into it, his touch leaving fiery traces across my face.

"It's beauty is only rivaled by you", he murmured, taking a hand and caressing my cheek. I blushed and he noticed. Chuckling he leaned in and nuzzled the crook of my jaw with the tip of his nose. I could feel him inhaling my scent.

"I suppose it's fragrance is rivaled by you too, I haven't taken in a sweeter scent yet", he whispered. I was frozen to the spot, every place he touched felt like it was set ablaze. Slowly he brought his head up to mine, his lips so close I was breathing with him. He chuckled again.

"You know I was quite jealous when you danced with that clockmaker, that's when I realized that you deserved the best, maybe even someone better than me", he whispered, his breath tickling my lips. That's when I broke out of my trance, at the mention of Julius. I pulled my head back, breathing heavily. Suddenly remembering our conversation from this morning, I saw how big of a decision I was making. Blood meanwhile had been starring blankly at me, though his stare was quickly turning to one of anger. His hands were on my forearms and they were starting to grip them really hard. I started tugging on them, but Blood appeared to be to lost in thought. The pressure was starting to be too much, I started curling around my arms.

"Blood, please, you're starting to hurt me", I mumbled, tears starting to form in my eyes. He growled and let go. Then he turned around, then he swirled back around, like he didn't know where to face.

"It's that damn clockmaker isn't it, I should have known you two had a thing going on, that shadow bull-shit was just a cover-up", he muttered, lashing out at me. I turned to him pissed-off, there he was making assumptions again. I wiped my tears out of my eyes, the pain was starting to fade.

"I have never done anything with anyone, that kiss last night was the first time I kissed Julius", I hissed at him. He narrowed his eyes. That's when I became suddenly aware that we were alone in the garden.

"Yes, but you're still picking him", he deadpanned, "And unfortunately I still want you. Which means that I have two choices. Either try and kill the clockmaker now, or maybe you could stop me from killing him with a small kiss", he smirked at me. I dropped my jaw, he had to be kidding.

"You can't be serious about this, you can't kill a role-holder and besides how do you know that I'm picking Julius?", I reasoned, crossing my arms, challenging him. That was a bad move on my part, he smirked even wider and brought out his cane from somewhere, which he turned into his machine gun. The same gun that he shot me with. I shivered as he talked.

"Because you back off when I mentioned him, and do you really think I'm afraid of breaking the rules, I can kill every single role-holder without flinching, though I have a feeling they would put up a fight", he waited to see what my answer was. I stayed silent, hoping he would drop it and stop doing what he was doing. He didn't.

"Fine I take your lack of an answer as a yes, go and kill my annoying lover", he held up the gun and started toward the exit. I quickly ran after him and stood in his way.

"There is no way that you're shooting Julius", I told him. The thought of Julius dead by a barrage of bullets made me cringe. He lowered the muzzle.

"Does that mean that you accept my offer?", he asked, with a raised brow. I could literally see triumph radiate off him.

I sighed deeply and nodded. God I wanted to smack that smirk off of his face. He switched the gun back into his cane and set it down on the ground and opened his arms, almost like he was greeting me.

"Well, you heard my deal, have at it", he purred. I shuddered and walked slowly over to him. Looking him straight in his eyes, I suddenly got an idea. I smiled mischievously, which made his smirk fade. I put my hands on his chest and leaned in, so I was in the position he was in moments ago.

I kept myself from laughing and leaned my head in so I was in the crook of his neck. I start nibbling and sucking in that spot, earning me a low moan from the person I was preying on. I slowly moved my way up breathing slowly, I was surprised to find that his breathing was shallow. I looked at his face and saw that he was watching me, his blue-green eyes filled with amusement, I raised a trembling hand up to his face and slowly pulled his eyelids down, he obeyed my movements without protest. I kissed him on the tip of his nose, both cheeks and very softly on his eyelids. Then I pulled the rose out of my hair and gave him a small petal kiss, gently brushing the petals across his lips. Then I jumped back.

Blood's eyes shot open and he glared at me. I giggled, "You never told me I had to kiss you on the lips". He growled and started toward me when I held up my hands.

"Ah ah ah, you made a deal, are you really going to go back on your word?", I asked him with raised eye-brows. He growled again and then he smiled.

"Fine, you win this one, but just wait, you'll see that I'm the better lover", he whispered, walking out of the garden. After a minute of thinking, I went out, only to find the hall empty, he had disappeared again. I sighed and went back to my party.

They had already eaten a lot of the cake. After talking and chatting, which was a little uneasy for me, they gave me their gifts. Elliot's was an assortment of carrot pastries, which he claimed to have made himself. Boris's was a pair of black cat ears and a tail, I tried to stop him, but he attached the ears in my hair, and tied the tail around my waist.

"See, now we match", he grinned and gave me a small hug. I gently pulled on his and he twitched.

"Yes, but you're actually move", I pointed out. He laughed and pulled his tail out of my grasp.

"Sorry, but that was starting to tickle me", he apologized, giggling. The twins were next, theirs was a boot knife, two axes were engraved on them.

"That's so if anyone hurts you, they know that we'll kill them", they said gleefully. I smiled, though touching the knife with two outstretched fingers.

"Thanks guys, this was wonderful", despite a Hatter's desperate attempts at ruining it. I gave a farewell to them and started on back to the Tower. I looked at my arms, only to find that there were new bruises. I sighed, hoping that I could hide them.

I came though the door, just as the sun disappeared, only to be replaced with the moon. Julius was in his usual place. He looked up and greeted me, I greeted him and then I started up the stairs. I looked at the vial and saw that it was full now.

After I made dinner, we talked, I told him about the party that they held for me, he smiled at that. That's when he pointed out that I still had them in. Laughing, I took them out.

I cleaned up and went upstairs and changed into my nightgown.

I got into bed when Julius turned to me and grabbed my arm.

"What's this", he was looking at my bruise. I panicked..

"I hit it while going through the woods", I said carelessly. He gave me a dry look and placed his hand on one of the bruises, matching his hand with the handprint. I sighed and told him that Blood got angry with me because of the dance last night. He sat straight up and started to get out of the bed.

"If that Hatter thinks he's going to hurt you just because of that, he has another thing coming", he reached toward a wrench. I wrapped my arms around him and pull him away from the tools.

"Really you don't have to do that, besides I sort of provoked it", I told him what happened before that, though I gave him the G-rated version. He sighed.

"You're definitely more troublesome than I thought", he leaned back into the bed, then he jumped right back up and did something I thought was crazy. He rolled over so he was on top of me, though he was supporting his weight.

"If you did that with him, I feel somewhat cheated", he whispered. I got wide-eyed and he looked at me sadly and rolled back off of me.

"I see", he muttered and rolled onto his side. I felt suddenly bad and guilty. I pulled him back over and gave him a long hard kiss.

"There's a reason why I'm here and not at the Hatters, because I trust you", I told him and pressed into his side, waiting for sleep to take me.


	21. Chapter 21

After the day of my party, I tried to stay clear of the mansion. Blood had gone too far again, and I was going to avoid him, letting him blow off some steam. I had begun visiting the Heart Castle again, despite Peter's attempts at getting me to stay there. He'd been getting even worse with his shows of affection to me. Vivaldi almost called for his beheading on one occasion.

She's showed me around the entire Castle, all of the gardens, her own private room that was filled to the ceiling with fluffy, stuffed animals, and even the dungeons, which scared me, seeing as they were filled with torture devices.

However, she never let me go into the woods behind the Castle for some reason.

"It's a bit dangerous for you, it's where that Joker lives, and from your encounter with him before, I would advise you to stay away from them", she told me one day, while we were strolling around the gardens.

I was sitting out on one of the patios, waiting for Ace, Julius had asked me to bring him to the Tower for some reason. From what the servants told me, Ace had gotten lost in the Castle and was trying to find his way out to me. That's when I heard a sound behind me.

I turned and saw a small colt stumbling out of the woods. It's mane was red, while the rest of it was a dark black, a very weird type of horse if you ask me. I walked carefully up to it, trying not to scare it. There was a rope around it's neck with a small sigh saying, "Nyx", apparently it was a girl.

"Now where are you from?", I asked her, giving her a small stroke on the head. She whinnied and started trotting towards the woods again. Guessing she was one of Joker's horses, I was cautious about going into the woods. But since she was his horse and she had gotten loose, I decided to do the right thing and return her.

I held onto the rope on her neck, and started guiding her through the woods, not really knowing where I was going. All of sudden a gate popped up in front of me. The scene behind it changed to one of what looked like a circus. There were brightly colored tents, stands with weird wares, and people walking around in strange costumes.

There was a tent with animals coming out of it so I brought Nyx over to it. She winnied happily and darted inside before I could even take a step in. I smiled, happy she was home and started coming back the way I had come. Only I really hadn't been paying attention to what I was doing, and now I had no clue which was to go, I was surrounded by brightly colored tents.

I started going in circles, I ended up at the flame-breathers tent four times before I stopped and started considering asking questions.

"Hmm, it would seem that I have caught a very lost outsider in my trap", an amused voice said, coming from a dark alley between the tents. Out stepped Joker, only now he was wearing the full jester suit, complete with the same hat and whip he had brought to the dance. He snapped it and stared at me with playful, yet predatory eyes. I backed up and almost landed in a wall of cloth.

"Why back away, what exactly have I done that would make you that scared?", Joker asked me, taking a step for my back step, "It's unseemly for someone to judge a person while they've only just met them". He smiled a toothy smile, that's when my temper came alive.

"I'm scared of you because of stories of you, plus your behavior at the dance only confirmed it", I spat at him. He just kept smiling.

Joker's POV

_"I say we kidnap the little brat"_, Black announced, in his mind. White nodded, agreeing with his brother. Now that she was here in his grasp, there was no way she was getting away. Only they had to make it that she stayed scared. One small mistake, and the Jokers would have those role-holders on them.

He stepped closer to Ave, who shrank, still angry, but knowing that if it came to a fight, Joker would win. He got so close that he could feel her warmth, and she could see how actually blood-red his eyes were.

"Hehe, you're right, you should fear me", he grinned at her. Ave suddenly kicked at him, darting away and running as fast as she could, away from the red-headed jester. White growled and grasped his whip. Giving it a sharp snap, it flew out to Ave and wrapped around Ave's legs, dragging her to the ground. She struggled against it as the Joker padded toward her. He quickly twisted the whip again and the excess rope sprang up and wrapped around the girls wrestling arms.

_"This is going to be such damn fun, I believe we found our way to really madden those fools"_, he knelt next to her and pulled out a cloth and bottle. One of his many sleeping potions from the witches in his circus, the liquid made Ave zonk out despite her struggles. Playfully, White chuckled as Ave's eyes slid closed, delighted at how easy the foreigner was. Taking the cloth from her mouth, he picked her up carefully and cradled her as he began walking toward the prison. Unconsciously Ave curled into him, which made him smile amused.

Taking her to one of the cells, he set her on the cot that was in there. The stone walls and steel bars made the place seem cruel and cold, the perfect place for Black's personality. True it was one of the more cleaner cells, yet it still had the feeling of being trapped. Ave would be waking up to a nightmare. White felt Black tugging at his body, wanting to take over so he could have his fun with the outsider. He took one last glance at Ave and ran a hand through her hair. "Like silk", he thought with a smile. She was a beauty, something both Jokers appreaciated, yet loved to destroy. He smirked as he thought of the beauty broken and sobbing on the ground.

_"Yes yes, aren't you the damn romantic one, get the hell on with what you're doing so I can do what I want, besides, I'd love to be there when she wakes up_", Black sneered. White rolled his eyes, then just to defy his brother's demands, he swiftly bent over to brush his lips on the outsiders, only to feel a very weird, and somehow pleasureful shock. White feel back on his butt surprised, a hand up to his stinging mouth. Black was also feeling the tingling, yet more reproachful to it.

_"Are you happy about your stupid experimenting? Now get out before you start feeling for this pathetic woman"_, Black drawled, yet there wasn't his usual amout of venom. White nodded and fell back into the background. Black stood up and walked out of the cell taking care to lock the door. They had captured their prey, now they had to figure out what to do with it.

_"I think I've come up with the perfect nickname for her, Beauty"_, White's voice resonated throughout their mind. For a second Black had an urge to smack himself. "Are you out of your mind, I'll be damned if you've gone stone fuck nuts before I did", Black said outloud, shocked and annoyed at his brother. First he was kissing her, now she had a pet name, pretty soon he would be off the deep end.

_"I will not, I just admire her, she'll be even more admirable when she's writhing on the floor"_, White argued. Black scoffed and went back to watching the girl, she was starting to twitch with the ending of sleep. She'd be awake any minute now.

He sat down at his chair in front of the cells. Absentmindedly, he would randomly reach up to rub at his lips lightly.

Julius's POV

It was beginning to turn to night and Ave still wasn't back. As much as I knew she was alright, I felt a sense of danger around the whole subject. I shook it off and continued on the clock I was working on. Actually if she wasn't back, I would be able to revive some of the clocks I had finished. I usually did this when Ave was out, I doubted she had even saw a afterimage yet, seeing a clock come to life in front of her would probably terrify her.

I finished the clock I was on and took the box of finished clocks with me down to the basement. I began screwing in the last parts I had purposly left out and watched as bodies formed around the now ticking clock. It was true that I was a cynic, I accepted it, but now watching this happen I could see where Ave would think this was magical. The thought made me smile as I ushered the new faceless inhabitants out to their own territories. All of a sudden Peter and Ace burst through the door. Both looked like they had ran the whole way.

"Where's Ave", Peter asked me, ignoring the startled 'patients' of mine. I shrugged.

"She's probably at one of the other territories", I said, both men shook their heads.

"We already checked them and she's not there!", Peter informed me. I looked sharply at him.

"Then where is she", I said through clenched teeth. Ace took the time to speak up.

"We think she's at the Jokers", he said with the ever cheerful smile on.

Ave's POV

I woke up to gray walls and a coldness surrounding me. I sat up and saw that I was in a cot that was in a cell. I turned toward the bars and saw two red eyes staring back at me. Joker was sitting at a table, only now he was wearing a gray soldier uniform, still having the hat on his head and the whip in hand.

"Bout time you were awake, I was wondering if I gave you something too strong", he pulled out the bottle of sleeping stuff and shook it. I got up and went to the bars and shook them, they were solid. I sighed heavily and decided to start talking to the red-head.

"Why are you keeping me here?", I asked calmly with a straight face. He sneered, his face twisting into a evil look of distaste.

"That's none of your damn business, someone in your postition would be screaming", he informed me. He snapped the whip at one of my hands that was on the bars of the cells. It must have had a blade at the end because I suddenly had a gushing cut on the inside of my wrist. I hissed and jumped back at the sudden pain. I tore away a piece of my dress and wrapped it around the fresh wound. I glared at him with a death-stare. He didn't flinch, in fact he just sneered even more.

"If you think that was bad, just wait until the real fun begins", he smirked and got up. He called to one of his servants and three of them hurried over to him. He whispered to them, then he came over to my cell and opened it. I backed into a corner again, feeling like a trapped rabbit with the wolf nearly upon me. He smiled evily and walked over to me, pulling out two large cloths. I knew what he was about to do, so I came at him, attempting to escape, but I felt two of the servants grab my arms, and the third one held my legs still. Joker came closer to me with a now triumphant smile on. He put a cloth over my eyes and I waited for him to put the one over my mouth, but instead I felt two lips. Soft and gently pressing, with a gentle hand caressing my cheek, I couldn't bear him touching me while he was holding me hostage. I bit at them, and they fell away.

"Hmm, maybe my brother is right, you do have your potiential, if you survive the acts", I heard him whisper. Then the cloth was put over my lips and I felt a rope being wrapped around my legs and arms and someone started to carry me somewhere.

Blood's POV

That annoying knight and rabbit came barging through my doors. Elliot was right behind them, trying to pull them out. I took the entire scene in calmly as always. After a few minutes of fighting, I finally stepped up and told Elliot to stop.

"What are you two doing in my territory, and in my own home", I asked in a ice-cold voice. I was in the middle of doing some paperwork, and of course drinking my tea. Peter stared disapprovingly at me and asked, "Is my beloved Ave here?". I stared at him and then gave him a deadly look.

"You mean to tell me that you disrupt my work, just to ask me where Ave is, have you even bothered looking at the Tower?", I narrowed my eyes, Peter stood his ground and just looked at me distastfully. That rabbit would find a hole in his head if he didn't stop this rudeness. He cleared his throat.

"No, it seems my Ave has wandered into Joker's woods, Ace and I are just looking to make sure she did before we go running headlong into anything", my blood ran cold. That scizophrenic, and mad red-head had Ave? I took a breath and looked at the knight sternly.

"Are you sure?", I asked in my calm voice, meanwhile I was aching to go find that Joker and flay him. Ace nodded, that damned smile on his face. I snapped and stood up.

"Elliot get the twins we're going to give Joker a surprise visit", I ordered, already putting my hat and grabbing my cane. Every minute that bastard had my angel was too long.


	22. Chapter 22

**HAHA! 50 reviews at last!, *sniff-sniff*, THX EVERYBODY!**

Blood's POV

We had gathered at Heart Castle ready to go charging in when Vivaldi halted us.

"We've been sent a invitation by Joker!", she exclaimed, just as I was about to walk into the trees. I stopped in my tracks and glared back at her. Elliot and the twins were close behind me and went tumbling into my back. I stumbled and quickly reposed myself, giving them a sharp glare. Ace and Peter were with her waving their arms. And running out of the doors to the gardens were Boris and that clockmaker. I felt my blood start seething at the sight of him, but I calmed down, if Joker was serious enough about this to send a invitation to whatever he was starting, strength would be in numbers.

I sighed, seeing reason, and walked back to the group with dignity, with my troop behind me. I waited until I was a few feet from them before I spoke.

"And what exactly does the damn note say", I growled, I wanted Ave away from him as soon as possible. Vivaldi eyes narrowed at my tone, but she extended her hand with the note. I took it and opened it. The twins and Elliot read over my shoulder.

_Dear Roleholders,_

_I daresay that you've lost something, and I have found it. You know the old saying, Finder's keepers, Loser's weepers. Well while the loser never usually finds what he has lost, I'm giving you a chance to see what you've lost. You can see your precious treasure at the big top at 12:00 tomorrow. Hopefully she's up to doing a performance, after all what's a circus if there isn't a little fun?_

_Sincerely,_

_White & Black Jokers_

I nearly tore the letter in my grasp, my anger was flaring again. Growling I pulled at my cane, bringing it into my gun, I starting heading towards the woods. I felt two hands pulling me back.

"Blood you can't go in there, that Joker's territory, he could turn those woods into a maze if he wanted to", Elliot was trying to reason with me. I spun on him with fury.

"And what exactly do you think we should do", I spat at him. He stood in front of me calmly.

He sighed, "I think we should wait until tomorrow, there's nothing we can do, and if we all go tomorrow, he'll have to be inhuman to incapacitate us all". Once again I saw how outrageous I was being, and how smart Elliot's plan was. I turned my cane back and straightened my hat.

"Fine, and what do you all think of this?", I turned to the rest of them. Slowly they all nodded agreeing with the plan.

"You may all stay tonight", Vivaldi offered. Everyone took up the offer, even I. The woods were right by the castle, and if a sudden attack were to happen, I was right there. For now however, due to the circumstances, I had another problem to deal with.

Julius's POV

All of them had gone to their rooms and I was still in the study room, troubled by clocks. Vivaldi had gotten angry about it, but after I pleaded with her, she let me fix some. If I hadn't I would have been backed up for weeks. Not that Ave wasn't worth it.

I sighed at the thought of her, actually cringing at the thought of her in that prison.

"Wait!", my mind cried at me. Why was I feeling so much about that girl? Yes, she kept me company at the Tower, but when had I started feeling again? I usually sealed my emotions away, such was what my job required me to do.

I shook my head, it was all that's girls fault, here I was, ready to fight for her, and she had to go and get caught in one of Joker's traps. Screwing a piece into the complex structure of the clock, I drove the thought of her away as I worked. Then another thing hit me.

"I could really go for some coffee", I grumbled, frustrated that it came back to her again. I sighed a deep depressed sigh and got up. I went to the kitchen and busied myself with making coffee, at this time of night the servants would be in their beds. All of a sudden the door opened again, and that Hatter came through it. The tension in the room soared.

He stopped with surprised eyes and then glared at me. I chuckled at this, he was actually in his pajama's without his hat and his glare only made him seem even more defenseless.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?", he ground out, going toward a cupboard and pulling out a teabag.

"Getting coffee", I said simply. He hmpfed loudly and got out a kettle. I had a question burning at me, ready to be fired, but I wasn't going to bring myself to say it.

Instead Blood spoke, "Is it true about what you said up in the Tower, seeing you here surprised me if it was", he asked, his voice low. I stared at him confused, what had I said?

He glared at me again and restated the question with a little more detail.

"Are you really just playing with her?", he questioned. I froze with my hand on a mug, did he really think that was true? I felt anger flare in me, I might have said it to keep from being shot, but him accusing me of it was frustrating.

"No, I didn't mean it", I answered, my own voice low, almost a growl. He smirked, he saw that he had hit a soft spot.

"Then why did you say it?", he asked, his newfound pride gleaming.

"Because you were about to shoot me, and I had to do something to distract you", I poured my coffee and put some sugar and milk in it. He snorted.

"Huh, you have a interesting battle strategy then", he commented, "I hope you don't come tomorrow, it would be a little too dangerous for someone like you", he baited me. And I unwillingly took it, almost out the door.

"Someone like me?", I asked quietly. He laughed outloud. I looked at him tiredly, he was back to being childish again.

"Yes, someone like you", he gushed, doubling over, "You wouldn't stand a chance in a battle, I doubt you could even save your own hide!", I stood there silently while he calmed down.

He looked back at me with a challenge in his eyes, "Tell you what, let's see who can save Ave, the person who does gets to have free rein as far as persuading her to pick him".

I raised my eyebrows, "What if she doesn't want that?", I murmured, he fell silent and I left with his laughter ringing down the halls.

I sat back down at my disarrayed table, various parts scattered across it. As I continued my work, I thought about his words. They definitely unnerved me. How dare he think that I couldn't defend Ave! The thought of someone hurting her, was almost maddening. She was so small and frail, easy to love and to break.

"GAHH!", I exclaimed in my own head, there she was muddling up my thoughts again. I gave up on the clocks, there was no way I could do them correctly tonight with so much confusing me. I silently picked up a couple of my screwdrivers and placed them in my pocket. If I was going to fight that clown tomorrow, I wasn't going in unarmed.

The Next Day

Ave's POV

The past two hours I have spent tied up and dragged everywhere. Finally I was brought to a place with enough light that it shown through the blindfold I had on.

I probably looked half dead, I hadn't eaten in two days, plus the fact that I haven't changed my clothes, or brushed my hair. I felt myself being propped up on something that had foot holds, it felt high up. Straps were being tied around my wrists and ankles, with a few around my waist and two on my knees.

I heard cheering and applauding somewhere, then all of a sudden Joker's voice rang throughout the room.

"Here's our next act, I will be knife-throwing at this innocent little girl, hopefully I will be able to control the knives and she will make it out alive. Here it goes!", the blindfold was whipped off.

I was in the middle of an arena with millions of people watching. Joker was in front of me, with knives in his hand, which he was preparing to throw. Yikes!

Joker's POV

I had them put her on the stand, which they did. The role-holders were in the stands, specially made seats. I made my announcement and they jumped up, only to be pulled back down.

I designed those seats for them, each one had two mechanical hands holding the person's arms down painfully. Now they were about to watch as I threw knives at that outsider, who was looking very beautiful in my mind, all tied up.

"_Get on with it dumbass!", Black made his comment. All of them were struggling against their bonds as I took my throwing stance._

_The two helpers whipped the blindfold off of her eyes, which turned immediately wide at seeing her surroundings. I threw the first knife as twelve cries of protest rang out._


	23. Chapter 23

Blood's POV

The clown threw a knife at Ave and I found myself shouting for him not to. Next to me Elliot's face was in one of pure horror. The knife missed her body, and landed right under her left arm. We were struggling against the mechanical hands that were holding us down. I looked down the row, only to see the Clockmaker using a screwdriver. He was unscrewing something that was inside of his binding.

"What the hell are you doing", I yelled down. Ace was sitting next to him and realized that the person next to him wasn't paying attention to the scene below.

The clockmaker looked up at me and Ace.

"What do you two think I'm doing?", he asked, angrily, "I'm trying to free us". He stuck his hand into the hole he was working on and pulled a wire. Immediately, the arms came off of him. Pulling out a few more screwdrivers he gave all of us one.

Ace started on his as soon as he got his hands on the screwdriver, looking at the clockmaker's broken bonds and trying to copy the action.. As much as I hated it, I watched him and followed suit. Soon all of us were tinkering with the metal bonds. Meanwhile, Joker was starting to take up the second stance. The clockmaker saw me stop and turned to the scene also.

Ave's POV

The first one was scary, it hit just below my arm, I had felt the air from it. Joker was looking at me playfully.

"Oh come on, smile a little, this is supposed to be fun", he faked pouting. I scowled.

"Yes maybe for you, but I don't want to die for a couple of psychotic twins amusement", I ground out. Joker smiled evilly.

"Who ever said anything about dying? I want to keep you alive as long as possible", he stood up on the platform again and aimed with the knife. It flew at me and I flinched and cowered to the right, only to feel it hit the outside of my left thigh. It shocked me as the pain seeped into my brain.

"_He actually hit me"_, the thought dazed me. Joker seemed dangerous, but I didn't think he would actually injure me in front of a crowd. I looked down and saw blood flowing out of the wound, with the knife still stuck there. My muscles started twitching with as my nerves started processing that I had been hit. Then it hit my brain. Getting shot had been nothing like this, I'd been half-conscious from loss of blood. But now, wide-awake, I bit on my lip to stop myself from screaming. I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of seeing me in pain. Still I couldn't control my eyes as tears started pooling in them.

"Oh well, that's what you get for flinching, after all, you should have trusted me", Joker said cruelly, tossing his head in carelessness. That's when a thought must have stuck him because his face turned expressionless and he started walking to my stand. The people and performers that had started running around after he had thrown the knife parted to let him through.

He stood inches from me and he raised a hand to my wound. I wriggled from his touch, but being strapped down his hand got closer. He took the handle and gently pulled the knife out, letting my wound flow freely. Seeing that as a problem, he took out a small cloth and wrapped it around my leg. Then he focused back on the knife, and to my disgust he ran his tongue against the edge, tasting my blood. I almost gagged.

"Hmm, just as I thought, you're very sweet, I almost want to see if the rest of you is just as tasty", he reached up and ran a hand through my hair, bringing some of it down to his face and inhaling. I felt completely disgusted by him and watched him with deadly eyes. He smirked as he saw my expression.

"Oh, don't be like that, one more and it's over", I hmpfed, my mouth closed, still unsure of whether I would groan or scream. My leg, though bandaged, still felt like a bunch of needles were stuck in it, in one place.

"Maybe it's just nerves, but I think I know what'll calm you down", he chuckled playfully, almost like he hadn't done anything wrong and he had forgotten that a thousand people were watching us. That's when he put a hand behind my head and I got rigid. Joker was pulling my head down to his, eyes watching mine with amusement, and mouth smirking sadistically. I pulled my head back, but his hand was too strong and I felt my lips connect with his. Just as a shot rang out.

"Get off her", someone growled, in a tone that made my skin crawl. Joker paled somewhat, then rebound and turned slowly.

White's POV

Black had his fun with her, and now it was mine. I pulled her head down to mine, though she was putting up a good fight, still I won. Just as I put my lips to hers, a shot rang above my head. _Deja vou?_

"Get off her", a voice said, pissed-off at me. This wasn't possible, how had they escaped. I recomposed myself and turned around.

"_I guess those seats weren't as great as you thought, huh dumbass?", _Black growled sarcastically, wanting to be in charge so he could rip them limb from limb.

I sighed and turned around, only to be surprised when it was the Clockmaker who was holding a pistol in my direction. His face was serious and intense, I almost laughed.

"You think you can just take her from me, huh?", I smirked. I pulled out the whip and stepped aside so he had a opening to her from between the helpers, who were inching away slowly. They knew a fight was about to let out. Ave was watching the Clockmaster with surprised eyes, even she didn't think he would do this.

"Go and get her", I waved my whip-less arm in her direction. He didn't move an inch, instead he simply started firing at me. I dodged the bullets easily and started whipping at him. He dodged my hits, even catching the end on his gun and twisting it, in hopes of grabbing the whip out of my hand, but I always twisted it back to me.

Boris's POV

All of us watched as Julius started running down the steps to the ring when Ave got hit. The closest to getting free was Ace, though I was catching up.

Having years of experience around Amusement Park equipment, it was easy to see where to hot-wire the release trigger. I pulled one more wire and with a whoosh, the hands came off me. I looked back down and saw Julius and the Jokers fighting, and Julius was actually holding his own.

"Stop standing there and get onee-san!", I heard the twins break me out of my watching the fight.

"But shouldn't I help the clockmaker?", I looked down and saw the other role-holders shaking their heads. That's when Ace's hands popped off.

"Leave the Jokers to me", he smiled cheerfully, pulling out his sword. I smiled in agreement and pulled out my pistol and started racing down to the scene below, right when a good snap rang out.

Looking down, I saw Joker laughing manically, with Julius on the ground, clutching his side, which was running with blood. He sprang back up and continued firing, just at a slower speed. Ace pushed past me.

Ave's POV

I watched as Joker's whip collided with Julius. Holding my breath I saw him go down, then he rose back up.

Julius's face was etched with pain, and he made another mistake as he left himself opened after blocking Joker's whip. Getting another hit he fell down , and didn't get up.

I was struggling against the straps to try and get to him, when Ace suddenly popped up on the ring. Joker saw this and started flinging his whip around rapidly. Ace blocked every whip-slash and quickly made it close to Joker, swinging his sword at him, stepping over Julius as he went. Joker was actually looking scared for his life as he fought, when he smirked and snapped his whip. It went around Ace's ankle and pulled him off his feet. Joker raised his whip again.

"Joker!", I yelled, his head snapped up. Ace got the chance and got up on his feet.

Blood, Elliot, Dee and Dum, and Peter came running out onto the ring. Seeing this Joker smirked.

"Well this was fun, but I'm afraid I'll have to make this short", he pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at the ground in front of him. An explosion of smoke shot out and Joker had disappeared.

"Come on Ave, let's get outta here", I looked down and Boris was untying my feet and reached up to start on my arms.

"Boris we have to help Julius", I said weakly, the straps were done holding me up, and my weight came down on my leg. Boris saw the wound and put an arm around me and held me up.

"We can't Ave, we have to get you to the hospital", I struggled against him.

"No, I want to see Julius, please!", I stopped and looked him in the eye. Boris fumbled and finally groaned.

"Damn you're persuasive, come on", We turned and started heading to the fight ring. The other role-holders were still on there and surrounding something. I felt my heart give a horrible thump as the possibility of Julius being dead wormed it's way into my head.

Everyone looked up at me and parted so Boris could help me through. I froze as the site took my breath away. Julius was in the middle on his side. Two deep slashes were in the middle of his torso, cutting his coat and shirt. Blood was flowing out of his wounds at an incredible speed. I walked over by myself shakily and fell next to him. I began working on wrapping his wounds. I didn't want to use his coat, but I pulled his shirt off him and began making a bandage out of it. As soon as I placed it there he gasped.

He opened his eyes and smiled his Julius smile. I felt one creep on my face. I felt tears falling down my cheeks.

I opened my mouth, "Could someone please start calling for an ambulance?", I called softly. Someone started running, there shoes clapping on the ground. I slowly put a hand on Julius's face, he sighed an leaned into it.

"You had better make it out of this, or I'll never forgive myself", I whispered. He had gotten hurt, trying to stop Joker from hurting me. Julius frowned and brought a hand up to my face. Brushing my cheek, his eyes caught mine and they were forceful.

"I did this because I wanted to", he said lowly, like it was an insult that I didn't want him to.

I smiled and leaned down and wrapped my arms around him, not caring who was watching. He stiffened then relaxed. I brought my head up to his shoulder.

"I love you", I whispered into his ear. He turned so he was facing me.

"I love you too Ave", he smiled. Then I realized that the bandage was starting to become soaked again. Julius was starting to get faint as I heard sirens coming closer.


	24. Chapter 24

**Alrighty, here's the rewrite, the start of the chapter is basically the same, but I changed the ending. Enjoy R and R.**

Ave's POV

I walked out of my doctor's with nothing but a few stitches that would heal with time. The other role-holders had stayed behind to try and find Joker as Boris and I rode in the ambulance with Julius. The entire time I had held his hand, even though he was basically unconscious. The medics had bustled around him, sticking needles into his arms and trying to bandage his wounds until we got to the ER in the Amusement Park. Boris had tried to get us into the ER with him but the doctors asked us to stay out and for me to go to a room down the hall so someone could stitch me up.

Now we were waiting for the nurse to inform us of what was happening, the room we were in was completely yellow and bright, too bright compared to my mood of impatientence. I was squeezing Boris's hand with enough force to choke a giraffe. He let go to my horror and my nerves scrambled. I grabbed it back and he laughed.

"The reason I let go was to tell you to go back to the Tower", he said, turning a green cat eye to me. I shook my head fiercely.

"No way, I'm staying here till we hear what's happening", I told him. He rolled his eyes.

"I meant so you could get some clean clothes for you, since you're still in blood soaked clothes", he glanced down, the darkening liquid on my dress was making my movements stiff. I sighed. If I kept in these they were going to start smelling.

"I suppose you're right, but I'm hurrying there and right back", Boris smiled. I stood up and started walking out of the room.

"I wouldn't expect anything else, it makes me wonder what you'd do if I was the one hurt", he said quietly behind me. I stiffened, turned around, and smacked him up the head and he yowled.

"OW WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!", he shouted, clutching his head, ears pulled back. I scowled, but softened as I watched him tear up.

"Don't ever get hurt just trying to get my attention, I'll never forgive you if you do", I said softly. He nodded, still holding his head. I chuckled and gave him a hug, which he refused to return.

"Nope, not until you apologize for hitting me", he teased me, holding his head up in a sign of refusal. I stood up straight.

"Fine, let's see how well that works", I smirked and walked out of the room. I heard him shout in defeat as I walked to the exit.

I walked quickly to the Tower, but I kept looking over my shoulder as I went. It felt as if someone were watching or following me, I think I even saw a figure jump back behind a tree when I looked back. Unfortunately when I had gone to investigate I found the tree to have no one behind it, there wasn't even a small animal. Finally I just ignored the feeling and pressed on.

Getting to the Tower, I went in and started gathering clothes for a hospital stay, I wanted to be there until Julius woke up. As I went through the drawer I pulled out my vial.

It was now completely filled, and I had a feeling I would have to deal with it soon. As I stared I saw something in the reflection. I turned around and saw Blood fingering the clothes on the bed. I jumped and nearly collided with my dresser. He was starring at the vial in my hands.

"B-Blood", I gasped, "Don't scare me like that", I had a hand to my chest. His face turned to mine, the look on it made my heart wrench. His mouth was in a straight line, almost he was fighting not to frown, but the most painful thing was his eyes. Emotions were swirling around in them, pain, anger, betrayal, and most of all acceptance.

"You're picking the Clock-maker aren't you?", he asked in a calm manner. I got wide-eyed at this, I didn't expect this, but there was no putting it of.

I took a deep breath, I knew this was going to upset him.

"Yes Blood, I'm going to choose Julius", I told him, some of that sentence was directed at me, the look on Blood's face was starting to tug at me. He nodded and walked over to me. He stopped within a foot of me.

"If that's what you wish then so be it", he whispered, then he kissed me on the forehead and paused for a moment.

"Hmm, to never feel that fragile little beat or to drink in your smell again will be the most painful things I think", he murmured against my forehead, more to himself than to me. Then he walked away and went downstairs and I heard a door slam. My hand had loosened from a fist around the small glass vial, into barely holding it.

I felt guilty and sorrowful for Blood, but I knew what I was doing. I gripped the vial tightly again and walked out of the Tower with my belongings.

Julius's POV

I felt my torso throbbing as I gained a sense of where I was. Sitting up was hard, the bandages were so tight I was surprised they weren't cutting off my circulation. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the hospital.

"Ha so you're awake, Ave's going to be pretty happy", a familiar high-pitched voice said from my left. The park cat was sitting in one of the visitors chairs next to me.

"Ughh", I moaned, "Where is she?".

He sighed, "She went back to the Tower to get some clothes". I raised an eyebrow and laid back into the bed.

"You know, if hadn't been there, the Jokers would still have her", the cat began, "So I guess I should say thanks to you for releasing those seats", he grumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"You don't have to say anything, I suppose you would have done the same thing if you knew how to do it", I muttered. His nosed twitched and he got up.

"Well I'm going to leave now, Ave's probably heading back now and since your awake, she's going to be too preoccupied to talk to me", he weakly smiled and left, just as Ave walked through the door.

Ave's POV

My mind was still on Blood as the nurse told me I could go to Julius's room. I walked into it just as Boris was walking out.

"Hey Boris, where are you going?", I asked. He shrugged.

"I sort of have stuff I need to do at the Park, besides he's awake in there if you want to talk to him", he pointed to the room and my excitement level rose. Nearly running into the room, I saw Julius's eyes were open. He saw me and smiled a little smile. I grinned widely and walked over slowly.

"Hmm, nice to see you're awake", I murmured happily. He smirked.

"I guess I'm glad to be awake", he muttered. There was a silence before I hugged him gently. He was still before he wrapped his arms around me. I felt tears running down my face.

"I'm so glad that you're alive, I was afraid you weren't going to make it", I found myself whispering. He chuckled lightly and pulled back so he could see my face. I froze as he started wiping the moisture from my face.

"Silly girl, why would you cry just for me?", he asked softly. That just caused me to giggle.

"Perhaps because I love you", I whispered and stretched my neck up to peck him on the lips, before sinking back into his arms. That's when I remembered the vial in my pocket. I pulled it out and held it between us.

"I choose you Julius", I offered it to him and he took it lightly from my fingers. Fingering it, he looked at me sharply.

"Are you sure?", he dared to ask. I straightened up and nodded.

"I do", he pulled the stopper off and drank it. I waited for him to do something.

Julius's POV

I drank it and felt a warmth swirl in my chest and suddenly turned into a sound. It was almost like a thumping, getting louder and louder before it sank into a small one. I looked at Ave in amazement and held a hand to my chest.

Instead of my clock tick, I felt a prominent heart beat in it's place. I smiled widely and took one of Ave's hands and put it to my chest. Her eyes widened before she grinned like me.

"So that's what happens", she whispered in amazement. My smile sank.

"You know what you have to do now", I said sadly, "You have to choose whether to go back to your world or stay here with me". I saw her eyes narrow in judgment before she shook her head.

"There's nothing for me back in my world, and besides what would I do without you?", she smiled and asked me. I found my new heart beating franticly. I was shaking in happiness when I pulled Ave into my arms and held onto her like a small child just promised a new toy.

"I hope you can put up with me for however long", I whispered into her ear. Her head moved down to my chest so she could hear my heart beat and I moved my hand down her back to the place above hers.

"Like I said, what would I do without you?", she whispered faintly. I leaned back into the bed, clutching her tightly and sighed in contentment.

Little did they know that someone was watching through from the doorway.

Nightmare's POV

I moved away from the crack in the door. The new couple were slowly falling asleep and into my dream-world where I made them appear in a small meadow. Both were happy and cheerful in their newfound love. Meanwhile I was putting a new plan into play.

After all, my job was to make everyone happy in this world and due to their happiness, the other role-holders were jealous and melancholy, especially the Hatter.

"Oh well", I said as I strolled down the damned hallway of the hospital. Of all the buildings in Wonderland, this place gave me the most creeps.

Right now that rabbit was in the other world and collecting the new foreigner to play the game.

"Hopefully you do just as well in the game as Ave did", I muttered. Alice just arrived, according to my link to the world. I cut it off and watched from the rabbit's head as Alice started to look around at the Clock Tower.

**I gotta say that I'm happier with this ending than the other, and I don't know if I'm writing a sequel, I suppose I'm going to have to finish Blind to You first, but I'll see what my wacky mind comes up with. :P**


End file.
